In desert and wilderness

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IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

WORKS OF

Henryk Stenktewtes

In DESERT AND WILDERNESS
WITH FIRE AND SWORD
THe DELUGE. 2 vols.

Pan MICHAEL
CHILDREN OF THE SOIL
“Quo Vapis”
SIELANKA, A ForEST PICTURE
THE KNIGHTS OF THE CROSS
WirHouT DOGMA
WHIRLPOOLS
On THE FIELD OF GLORY

Let Us FoLttow Him

iewic?.

Henryk Sienk

Por

PN DRS hin)
AND WILDERNESS

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HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ
AvuTHOR oF “ WitTH Fire anp Sworp,” “Quo Vapis,”

“WHIRLPOOLS,” ETC.

TRANSLATED FROM THE POLISH BY
MAX A. DREZMAL

BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
1912

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Copyright, 1912,
By LitTLe, BRown, AND COMPANY.

All rights reserved

Published, February, 1912

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THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.

PART FIRST

240720

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

I

“Do you know, Nell,” said Stas Tarkowski to his friend,
a little English girl, “that yesterday the police came and
arrested the wife of Smain, the overseer, and her three
children, — that Fatma who several times called at the
office to see your father and mine.”

And little Nell, resembling a beautiful picture, raised
her greenish eyes to Stas and asked with mingled surprise
and fright:

“Did they take her to prison?”

“No, but they will not let her go to the Sudan and an
official has arrived who will see that she does not move
a step out of Port Said.”

ce Why? 7

Stas, who was fourteen years old and who loved his eight-
year-old companion very much, but looked upon her as a
mere child, said with a conceited air:

“When you reach my age, you will know everything
which happens, not only along the Canal from Port Said
to Suez, but in all Egypt. Have you ever heard of the
Mahdi?”’

“T heard that he is ugly and naughty.”’.

The boy smiled compassionately. =

“T do not know whether he is ugly. The Sudanese claim >
that he is handsome. But the word ‘naughty,’ about a
man who has murdered so many people, could be used only

4. IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

by a little girl, eight years old, in dresses — oh — reaching
the knees.”

“Papa told me so and papa knows best.”’

“He told you so because otherwise you would not under-
stand. He would not express himself to me in that way.
The Mahdi is worse than a whole shoal of crocodiles.
Do you understand? That is a nice expression for me.
‘Naughty!’ They talk that way to babes.”

But, observing the little girl’s clouded face, he became
silent and afterwards said:

“Nell, you know I did not want to cause you any un-
pleasantness. The time will come when you will be four-
teen. I certainly promise you that.”

“Aha!” she replied with a worried look, ‘but if before
that time the Mahdi should dash into Port Said and eat me.”

“The Mahdi is not a cannibal, so he does not eat people.
He only kills them. He will not dash into Port Said, but even
if he did and wanted to murder you, he would first have to
do with me.”

This declaration with the sniff with which Stas inhaled
the air through his nose, did not bode any good for the
Mahdi and considerably quieted Nell as to her own person.

“T know,” she answered, “you would not let him harm
me. But why do they not allow Fatma to leave Port Said?”’

“Because Fatma is a cousin of the Mahdi. Her hus-
band, Smain, made an offer to the Egyptian Government
at Cairo to go to the Sud4n, where the Mahdi is staying,
and secure the liberty of all Europeans who have fallen into
his hands.”

“Then Smain is a good man?”

“Wait! Your papa and my papa, who knew Smain thor-
oughly, did not have any confidence in him and warned
Nubar Pasha not to trust him. But the Government
agreed to send Smain and Smain remained over half a

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 5

year with the Mahdi. The prisoners not only did not re-
turn, but news has come from Kharttim that the Mahdists
are treating them more and more cruelly, and that Smain,
having taken money from the Government, has become a
traitor. He joined the Mahdi’s army and has been ap-
pointed an emir. The people say that in that terrible
battle in which General Hicks fell, Smain commanded the
Mahdi’s artillery and that he probably taught the Mahdists
how to handle the cannon, which before that time they, as
savage people, could not do. But now Smain is anxious to
get his wife and children out of Egypt. So when Fatma,
who evidently knew in advance what Smain was going to
do, wanted secretly to leave Port Said, the Government
arrested her with the children.”

“But what good are Fatma and her children to the
Government?”’

“The Government will say to the Mahdi, — ‘Give us the
prisoners and we will surrender Fatma’ — ”

For the time the conversation was interrupted because
the attention of Stas was attracted by birds flying from the
direction of Echtum om Farag towards Lake Menzaleh.
They flew quite low and in the clear atmosphere could be
plainly seen some pelicans with curved napes, slowly mov-
ing immense wings. Stas at once began to imitate their
flight. So with head upraised, he ran a score of paces along
the dyke, waving his outstretched arms.

“Look!” suddenly exclaimed Nell. “Flamingoes are also
flying.”

Stas stood still im a moment, as actually behind the
pelicans, but somewhat higher, could be seen, suspended in
the sky, two great red and purple flowers, as it were.

“Flamingoes! flamingoes! Before night they return to
their haunts on the little islands,” the boy said. “Oh, if I
only had a rifle!”

6 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“Why should you want to shoot at them?”

“Girls don’t understand such things. But let us go far-
ther; we may see more of them.”

Saying this he took the girl’s hand and together they
strolled towards the first wharf beyond Port Said. Dinah,
a negress and at one time nurse of little Nell, closely fol-
lowed them. They walked on the embankment which
separated the waters of Lake Menzaleh from the Canal,
through which at that time a big English steamer, in charge
of a pilot, floated. The night was approaching. The sun
still stood quite high but was rolling in the direction of the
lake. The salty waters of the latter began to glitter with
gold and throb with the reflection of peacock feathers. On
the Arabian bank as far as the eye could reach, stretched a
tawny, sandy desert — dull, portentous, lifeless. Between
the glassy, as if half-dead, heaven and the immense, wrin-
kled sands there was not a trace of a living being. While
on the Canal life seethed, boats bustled about, the whistles
of steamers resounded, and above Menzaleh flocks of mews
and wild ducks scintillated in the sunlight, yonder, on the
Arabian bank, it appeared as if it were the region of death.
Only in proportion as the sun, descending, became ruddier
and ruddier did the sands begin to assume that lily hue
which the heath in Polish forests has in autumn.

The children, walking towards the wharf, saw a few more
flamingoes, which pleased their eyes. After this Dinah
announced that Nell must return home. In Egypt, after
days which even in winter are often scorching, very cold
nights follow, and as Nell’s health demanded great care, her
father, Mr. Rawlinson, would not allow her to be near the
water after sunset. They, therefore, returned to the city,
on the outskirts of which, near the Canal, stood Mr. Raw-
linson’s villa, and by the time the sun plunged into the sea
they were in the house. Soon, the engineer Tarkowski,

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS fe

Sias’ father, who was invited to dinner arrived, and the whole
company, together with a French lady, Nell’s teacher,
Madame Olivier, sat at the table.

Mr. Rawlinson, one of the directors of the Suez Cana!
Company, and Ladislaus Tarkowski, senior engineer of the
same company, lived for many years upon terms of the
closest intimacy. Both were widowers, but Pani Tarkowski,
by birth a French lady, died at the time Stas came into the
world, while Nell’s mother died of consumption in Helwan
when the girl was three years old. Both widowers lived in
neighboring houses in Port Said, and owing to their duties
met daily. A common misfortune drew them still closer to
each other and strengthened the ties of friendship pre-
viously formed. Mr. Rawlinson loved Stas as his own son,
while Pan Tarkowski would have jumped into fire and
water for little Nell. After finishing their daily work the
most agreeable recreation for them was to talk about the
children, their education and future. During such con-
versations it frequently happened that Mr. Rawlinson
would praise the ability, energy, and bravery of Stas and
Pan Tarkowski would grow enthusiastic over the sweet-
ness and angelic countenance of Nell. And the one and
the other spoke the truth. Stas was a trifle conceited and
a trifle boastful, but diligent in his lessons, and the teachers
in the English school in Port Said, which he attended,
credited him with uncommon abilities. As to courage and
resourcefulness, he inherited them from his father, for Pan
Tarkowski possessed these qualities in an eminent degree
and in a large measure owed to them his present position.

In the year 1863 he fought for eleven months without
cessation. Afterwards, wounded, taken into captivity, and
condemned to Siberia, he escaped from the interior of Russia
and made his way to foreign lands. Before he entered into
the insurrection he was a qualified engineer; nevertheless

8 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

he devoted a year to the study of hydraulics. Later he
secured a position at the Canal and in the course of a few
years, when his expert knowledge, energy, and industry be-
came known, he assumed the important position of senior
engineer.

Stas was born, bred, and reached his fourteenth year in
Port Said on the Canal; in consequence of which the en-
gineers called him the child of the desert. At a later period,
when he was attending school, he sometimes, during the
vacation season and holidays, accompanied his father or
Mr. Rawlinson on trips, which their duty required them
to make from Port Said to Suez to inspect the work on the
embankment or the dredging of the channel of the Canal.
He knew everybody —the engineers and custom-house
officials as well as the laborers, Arabs and negroes. He
bustled about and insinuated himself everywhere, appear-
ing where least expected; he made long excursions on the
embankment, rowed in a boat over Menzaleh, venturing
at times far and wide. He crossed over to the Arabian
bank and mounting the first horse he met, or in the absence
of a horse, a camel, or even a donkey, he would imitate
Farys ! on the desert; in a word, as Pan Tarkowski expressed
it, “he was always popping up somewhere,” and every mo-
ment free from his studies he passed on the water.

His father did not oppose this, as he knew that rowing,
horseback riding, and continual life in the fresh air strength-
ened his health and developed resourcefulness within him.
In fact, Stas was taller and stronger than most boys of his
age. It was enough to glance at his eyes to surmise that
in case of any adventure he would sin more from too much
audacity than from timidity. In his fourteenth year, he
was one of the best swimmers in Port Said, which meant

1 Farys, the hero of Adam Mickiewicz’s Oriental poem of the
same name. — 7'ranslator’s note.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 9

not a little, for the Arabs and negroes swim like fishes.
Shooting from carbines of a small caliber, and only with
cartridges, for wild ducks and Egyptian geese, he acquired
an unerring eye and steady hand. His dream was to hunt
the big animals sometime in Central Africa. He therefore
eagerly listened to the narratives of the Suddnese working
on the Canal, who in their native land had encountered
big, thick-skinned, and rapacious beasts.

This also had its advantage, for at the same time he
learned their languages. It was not enough to excavate the
Suez Canal; it was necessary also to maintain it, as other-
wise the sands of the deserts, lying on both banks, would
fill it up in the course of a year. The grand work of De
Lesseps demands continual labor and vigilance. So, too,
at the present day, powerful machines, under the super-
vision of skilled engineers, and thousands of laborers are at
work, dredging the channel. At the excavation of the
Canal, twenty-five thousand men labored. To-day, owing
to the completion of the work and improved néw machinery,
considerably less are required. Nevertheless, the number is
great. Among them the natives of the locality predomi-
nate. There is not, however, a lack of Nubians, Sudanese,
Somalis, and various negroes coming from the White and
Blue Niles, that is, from the region which previous to the
Mahdi’s insurrection was occupied by the Egyptian Gov-
ernment. Stas lived with all on intimate terms and having,
as is usual with Poles, an extraordinary aptitude for lan-
guages he became, he himself not knowing how and when,
acquainted with many of their dialects. Born in Egypt,
he spoke Arabian like an Arab. From the natives of Zan-
zibar, many of whom worked as firemen on the steam
dredges, he learned Kiswahili, a language widely prevalent
all over Central Africa. He could even converse with

the negroes of the Dinka and Shilluk tribes, residing on the

10 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Nile below Fashoda. Besides this, he spoke fluently Eng-
lish, French, and also Polish, for his father, an ardent
patriot, was greatly concerned that his son should know
the language of his forefathers. Stas in reality regarded
this language as the most beautiful in the world and taught
it, not without some success, to little Nell. One thing
only he could not accomplish, that she should pronounce his
name Stas, and not “Stes.” Sometimes, on account of this,
a misunderstanding arose between them, which continued
until small tears began to glisten in the eyes of the girl.
Then ‘‘ Stes” would beg her pardon and became angry at
himself.

He had, however, an annoying habit of speaking slight-
ingly of her eight years and citing by way of contrast his
own grave age and experience. He contended that a boy
who is finishing his fourteenth year, if he is not fully ma-
tured, at least is not a mere child, but on the contrary, is
capable of performing all kinds of heroic deeds, especially if
he has Polish and French blood. He craved most ardently
that sometime an opportunity would occur for such deeds,
particularly in defense of Nell. Both invented various
dangers and Stas was compelled to answer her questions
as to what he would do if, for instance, a crocodile, ten yards
long, or a scorpion as big as a dog, should crawl through the
window of her home. To both it never occurred for a mo-
ment that impending reality would surpass all their fan-
tastic suppositions.

a

In the meantime, in the house, good news awaited them
during the dinner. Messrs. Rawlinson and Tarkowski, as
skilled engineers, had been invited a few weeks before, to
examine and appraise the work carried on in connection
with the whole net-work of canals in the Province of EI-
Fayiim, in the vicinity of the city of Medinet near Lake
Karun, as well as along the Yisuf and Nile rivers. They
were to stay there for about a month and secured furloughs
from their company. As the Christmas holidays were ap-
proaching, both gentlemen, not desiring to be separated
from the children, decided that Stas and Nell should also
go to Medinet. Hearing this news the children almost
leaped out of their skins from joy. They had already
visited the cities lying along the Canal, particularly Is-
mailia and Suez, and while outside the Canal, Alexandria
and Cairo, near which they viewed the great pyramids and
the Sphinx. But these were short trips, while the expedi-
tion to Medinet el-Fayiim required a whole day’s travel by
railway, southward along the Nile and then westward from
El-Wasta towards the Libyan Desert. Stas knew Medinet
from the narratives of younger engineers and tourists who
went there to hunt for various kinds of water-fowls as well
as desert wolves and hyenas. He knew that it was a sepa-
rate, great oasis lying off the west bank of the Nile but not
dependent upon its inundations and having its water system
formed by Lake Karun through Bahr Ydsuf and a whole

12 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

chain of small canals. Those who had seen this oasis said
that although that region belonged to Egypt, nevertheless,
being separated from it by a desert, it formed a distinct
whole. Only the Yiisuf River connects, one might say with
a thin blue thread, that locality with the valley of the Nile.
The great abundance of water, fertility of soil, and luxu-
riant vegetation made an earthly paradise of it, while the
extensive ruins of the city of Crocodilopolis drew thither
hundreds of curious tourists. Stas, however, was attracted
mainly by the shores of Lake Karun, with its swarms of
birds and its wolf-hunts on the desert hills of Gebel el-
Sedment.

But his vacation began a few days later, and as the in-
spection of the work on the canals was an urgent matter
and the gentlemen could not lose any time, it was arranged
that they should leave without delay, while the children,
with Madame Olivier, were to depart a week later. Nell
and Stas had a desire to leave at once, but Stas did not dare
to make the request. Instead they began to ask questions
about various matters relative to the journey, and with
new outbursts of joy received the news that they would
not live in uncomfortable hotels kept by Greeks, but in
tents furnished by the Cook Tourists’ Agency. This is the
customary arrangement of tourists who leave Cairo for a
lengthy stay at Medinet. Cook furnishes tents, servants,
cooks, supplies of provisions, horses, donkeys, camels, and
guides; so the tourist does not have to bother about any-
thing. This, indeed, is quite an expensive mode of travel-
ing; but Messrs. Tarkowski and Rawlinson did not have to
take that into account as all expenses were borne by the
Egyptian Government, which invited them, as experts, to
inspect and appraise the work on the canals. Nell, who,
above everything in the world, loved riding on a camel, ob-
tained a promise from her father that she should have a

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 13

separate “hump-backed saddle horse” on which, together
with Madame Olivier, or Dinah, and sometimes with Stas,
she could participate in the excursions to the nearer locali-
ties of the desert and to Karun. Pan Tarkowski promised
Stas that he would allow him some nights to go after wolves,
and if he brought a good report from school he would get
a genuine English short rifle and the necessary equipment
for a hunter. As Stas was confident that he would suc-
ceed, he at once began to regard himself as the owner of a
short rifle and promised himself to perform various aston-
ishing and immortal feats with it.

On such projects and conversation the dinner passed for
the overjoyed children. But somewhat less eagerness for
the contemplated journey was displayed by Madame
Olivier who was loath to leave the comfortable villa in
Port Said and who was frightened at the thought of living
for several weeks in a tent, and particularly at the plan of
excursions on camel-back. It happened that she had
already tried this mode of riding several times and these
attempts ended unfortunately. Once the camel rose too
soon, before she was well seated in the saddle, and as a
result she rolled off his back onto the ground. Another
time, the dromedary, not belonging to the light-footed
variety, jolted her so that two days elapsed before she recov-
ered; in a word, although Nell, after two or three pleasure-
rides which Mr. Rawlinson permitted her to take, declared
that there was nothing more delightful in the world, in
the same measure only painful recollections remained for
Madame Olivier. She said that this was good enough for
Arabs or for a chit like Nell, who could not be jolted any
more than a fly which should alight upon a camel’s hump,
but not for persons dignified, and not too light, and
having at the same time a certain proneness to unbearable
sea-sickness.

14 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

But as to Medinet el-Fayfim she had other fears. Now
in Port Said as well as in Alexandria, Cairo, and in the
whole of Egypt nothing was the subject of more discus-
sion than the Mahdi’s insurrection and the cruelties of
the dervishes. Madame Olivier, not knowing exactly
where Medinet was situated, became alarmed as to whether
it was not too near the Mahdists, and finally began to
question Mr. Rawlinson about it.

But he only smiled and said:

“The Mahdi at this moment is besieging Khartiim in
which General Gordon is defending himself. Does Madame
know how far it is from Medinet to Khartim?”

“T have no idea.”

“About as far as from here to Sicily,’
Tarkowski.

“Just about,” corroborated Stas. “ Khartiim lies where
the White and Blue Niles meet and form one river. We
are separated from it by the immense expanse of Egypt
and the whole of Nubia.”’

Afterwards he wanted to add that even if Medinet
should be closer to the regions overrun by the insurgents,
he, of course, would be there with his short rifle; but
recalling that for similar bragging he sometimes received
a sharp reproof from his father, he became silent.

The older members of the party, however, began to talk
of the Mahdi and the insurrection, for this was the most
important matter affecting Egypt. The news from Khar-
tim was bad. The wild hordes already had been besieging
the city for a month and a half and the Egyptian and
English governments were acting slowly. The relief
expedition had barely started and it was generally feared
that notwithstanding the fame, bravery, and ability
of Gordon this important city would fall into the hands
of the barbarians. This was the opinion of Pan Tar-

5

explained Pan

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 15

kowski, who suspected that England in her soul desired
that the Mahdi should wrest it from Egypt in order to
retake it later from him and make this vast region an
English possession. He did not, however, share this sus-
picion with Mr. Rawlinson as he did not want to offend
his patriotic feelings.

Towards the close of the dinner Stas began to ask why
the Egyptian Government had annexed all the country
lying south of Nubia, particularly Kordofan, Darfur, and
the Sudan as far as Lake Albert Nyanza and deprived
the natives there of their liberty. Mr. Rawlinson ex-
plained that whatever was done by the Egyptian Govern-
ment was done at the request of England which extended
a protectorate over Egypt and in reality ruled her as
Egypt herself desired.

“The Egyptian Government did not deprive anybody
of his liberty,” he said, “but restored it to hundreds of
thousands and perhaps to millions of people. In Kor-
dofan, in Darfur and in the Sudan there were not during
the past years any independent States. Only here and
there some petty ruler laid claim to some lands and took
possession of them by force in spite of the will of the
residents. They were mainly inhabited by independent
Arab-negro tribes, that is, by people having the blood
of both races. These tribes lived in a state of incessant
warfare. They attacked each other and seized horses,
camels, cattle, and, above all, slaves; besides, they per-
petrated numerous atrocities. But the worst were the
ivory and slave hunters. They formed a separate class,
to which belonged nearly all the chiefs of the tribes and
the richer traders. They made armed expeditions into the
interior of Africa, appropriating everywhere ivory tusks,
and carried away thousands of people: men, women,
and children. In addition they destroyed villages and

16 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

settlements, devastated fields, shed streams of blood, and
slaughtered without pity all who resisted. In the southern
portion of the Sudan, Darfur, and Kordof4n, as well as the
region beyond the Upper Nile as far as the lake they de-
populated some localities entirely. But the Arabian bands
made their incursions farther and farther so that Central
Africa became a land of tears and blood. Now England
which, as you know, pursues slave-dealers all over the
world, consented that the Egyptian Government should
annex Kordofan, Darfur, and the Sudén. This was the only
method to compel these pillagers to abandon their abomin-
able trade and the only way to hold them in restraint. The
unfortunate negroes breathed more freely; the depreda-
tions ceased and the people began to live under tolerable
laws. But such a state of affairs did not please the
traders, so when Mohammed Ahmed, known to-day as
‘the Mahdi,’ appeared among them and proclaimed a
holy war on the pretext that the true faith of Mahomet
was perishing, all rushed like one man to arms; and so
that terrible war has been kindled in which thus far the
Egyptians have met with such poor success. The Mahdi
has defeated the forces of the Government in every battle.
He has occupied Kordofan, Darfur, and the Sudan; his
hordes at present are laying a siege to Khartfim and are
advancing to the north as far as the frontiers of Nubia.”
“Can they advance as far as Egypt?” asked Stas.
“No,” answered Mr. Rawlinson. “The Mahdi an-
nounces, indeed, that he will conquer the whole world,
but he is a wild man who has no conception of anything.
He never will take Egypt, as England would not permit it.”
“Tf, however, the Egyptian troops are completely
routed?”
“Then would appear the English armies which no one
has ever overcome.”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 17

“And why did England permit the Mahdi to occupy
so much territory?”

“How do you know that she has permitted it?” replied
Mr. Rawlinson. “England is never in a hurry because
she is eternal.”

Further conversation was interrupted by a negro
servant, who announced that Fatma Smain had arrived
and begged for an audience.

Women in the East are occupied exclusively with
household affairs and seldom leave the harems. Only
the poorer ones go to the market or work in the fields,
as the wives of the fellahs, the Egyptian peasants, do;
but these at such times veil their faces. Though in the
Sudan, from which region Fatma came, this custom was
not observed, and though she had come to Mr. Rawlin-
son’s office previously, nevertheless, her arrival, particu-
larly at such a late hour and at a private house, evoked
surprise.

“We shall learn something new about Smain,”’ said
Pan Tarkowski.

“Yes,” answered Mr. Rawlinson, giving at the same
time a signal to the servant to usher Fatma in.

Accordingly, after a while there entered a tall, young
Sudanese woman with countenance entirely unveiled,
complexion very dark, and eyes beautiful but wild, and
a trifle ominous. Entering, she at once prostrated herself,
and when Mr. Rawlinson ordered her to rise, she raised
herself but remained on her knees.

“Sidi,” she said, “ May Allah bless thee, ae posterity,
thy home, and thy flocks!”

“What do you want?” asked the engineer.

“Mercy, help, and succor in misfortune, oh, sir! I
am imprisoned in Port Said and destruction hangs over
me and my children.”

18 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“You say that you are imprisoned, and yet you could
come here, and in the night-time at that.”

“T have been escorted by the police who day and night
watch my house, and I know that they have an order to
cut off our heads soon!”’

“Speak like a rational woman,” answered Mr. Rawlin-
son, shrugging his shoulders. “ You are not in the Sudan,
but in Egypt where no one is executed without a trial.
So you may be certain that not a hair will fall from your
head or the heads of your children.”

But she began to implore him to intercede for her yet
once more with the Government, to procure permission
for her to go to Smain.

“Englishmen as great as you are, sir,” she said, “can
do everything. The Government in Cairo thinks that
Smain is a traitor, but that is false. There visited me
yesterday Arabian merchants, who arrived from Suakin,
and before that they bought gums and ivory in the Sudan,
and they informed me that Smain is lying sick at El-Fasher
and is calling for me and the children to bless them —”’

“All this is your fabrication, Fatma,” interrupted
Mr. Rawlinson.

But she began to swear by Allah that she spoke the
truth, and afterwards said that if Smain got well, he
undoubtedly would ransom all the Christian captives;
and if he should die, she, as a relative of the leader of
the dervishes, could obtain access to him easily and would
secure whatever she wished. Let them only allow her
to leave, for her heart will leap out of her bosom from
longing for her husband. In what had she, ill-fated
woman, offended the Government or the Khedive? Was
it her fault or could she be held accountable because she
was the relative of the dervish, Mohammed Ahmed?

Fatma did not dare in the presence of the “English

,

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 19

people” to call her relative “the Mahdi,” as that meant
the Redeemer of the world. She knew that the Egyptian
Government regarded him as a rebel and an imposter.
But continually striking her forehead and invoking heaven
to witness her innocence and unhappy plight, she began
to weep and at the same time wail mournfully as women
in the East do after losing husbands or sons. Afterwards
she again flung herself with face on the ground, or rather
on the carpet with which the inlaid floor was covered,
and waited in silence.

Nell, who towards the close of the dinner felt a little
sleepy, became thoroughly aroused and, having an upright
little heart, seized her father’s hand, and kissing it again
and again, began to beg for Fatma. |

“Let papa help her! Do please, papa!”’

Fatma, evidently understanding English, exclaimed
amidst her sobs, not removing her face from the carpet:

“May Allah bless thee, bird of paradise, with the joys
of Omayya, oh, star without a blemish!”

However implacable Stas in his soul was towards the
Mahdists, he was moved by Fatma’s entreaties and grief.
Besides, Nell interceded for her and he in the end always
wanted that which Nell wished. So after a while he spoke
out, as if to himself but so that all could hear him:

“Tf I were the Government, I would allow Fatma to
PO.”

“But as you are not the Government,” Pan Tarkowski
said to him, “ you would do better not to interfere in that
which does not concern you.”’

Mr. Rawlinson also had a compassionate soul and
was sensible of Fatma’s situation, but certain statements
which she made struck him as being downright falsehoods.
Having almost daily relations with the custom-house at
Ismailia, he well knew that no new cargoes of gums or

20 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

ivory were being transported lately through the Canal.
The trade in those wares had ceased almost entirely.
Arabian traders, moreover, could not return from the city
of El-Fasher which lay in the Sudan, as the Mahdists,
as a rule, barred all traders from their territories, and
those whom they captured were despoiled and kept in
captivity. And it was almost a certainty that the state-
ment about Smain’s sickness was a falsehood.

But as Nell’s little eyes were still looking at her papa
appealingly, he, not desiring to sadden the little girl,
after a while said to Fatma:

“Fatma, I already have written at your request to
the Government, but without result. And now listen.
To-morrow, with this mehendis (engineer) whom you
see here, I leave for Medinet el-Fayim; on the way we
shall stop one day in Cairo, for the Khedive desires to
confer with us about the canals leading from Bahr Ytsuf
and give us a commission as to the same. During the
conference I shall take care to present your case and try
to secure for you his favor. But I can do nothing more,
nor shall I promise more.”

Fatma rose and, extending both hands in sign of grati-
tude, exclaimed:

“ And so I am safe.”

“No, Fatma,” answered Mr. Rawlinson, “do not speak
of safety for I already told you that death threatens
neither you nor your children. But that the Khedive
will consent to your departure I do not guarantee, for
Smain is not sick but is a traitor, who, having taken money
from the Government, does not at all think of ransoming
the captives from Mohammed Ahmed.”

“Smain is innocent, sir, and lies in El-Fasher,” re-
iterated Fatma, “but if even he broke his faith with the
Government, I swear before you, my benefactor, that

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 21

if I am allowed to depart I will entreat Mohammed
Ahmed until I secure the deliverance of your captives.”

“Very well. I promise you once more that I will
intercede for you with the Khedive.”

Fatma began to prostrate herself.

“Thank you, Sidi! You are not only powerful, but
just. And now I entreat that you permit me to serve
you as a slave.”

“In Egypt no one can be a slave,” answered Mr. Raw-
linson with a smile. “I have enough servants and cannot
avail myself of your services; for, as I told you, we all
are leaving for Medinet and perhaps will remain there
until Ramazan.”

“T know, sir, for the overseer, Chadigi, told me about
that. I, when I heard of it, came not only to implore you
for help, but also to tell you that two men of my Dongola
tribe, Idris and Gebhr, are camel drivers in Medinet and
will prostrate themselves before you when you arrive,
submitting to your commands themselves and _ their
camels.”

“Good, good,” answered the director, “but that is
the affair of the Cook Agency, not mine.”

Fatma, having kissed the hands of the two engineers
and the children, departed blessing Nell particularly.
Both gentlemen remained silent for a while, after which
Mr. Rawlinson said:

“Poor woman! But she lies as only in the East they
know how to lie, and even in her declaration of gratitude
there is a sound of some false note.”

“Undoubtedly,” answered Pan Tarkowski; “but to
tell the truth, whether Smain betrayed or did not, the
Government has no right to detain her in Egypt, as she
cannot be held responsible for her husband.”

“The Government does not now allow any Sudanese

22 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

to leave for Suakin or Nubia without a special permit;
so the prohibition does not affect Fatma alone. Many
of them are found in Egypt for they come here for gain.
Among them are some who belong to the Dongolese
tribe; that is the one from which the Mahdi comes. There
are, for instance, besides Fatma, Chadigi and those two
camel drivers in Medinet. The Mahdists call the
Egyptians Turks and are carrying on a war with them,
but among the local Arabs can be found a considerable
number of adherents of the Mahdi, who would willingly
join him. We must number among them all the fanatics,
all the partisans of Arabi Pasha, and many among the
poorer classes. They hold it ill of the Government that
it yielded entirely to English influence and claim that
the religion suffers by it. God knows how many already
have escaped across the desert, avoiding the customary
sea route to Suakin. So the Government, having learned
that Fatma also wanted to run away, ordered her to be
put under surveillance. For her and her children only,
as relatives of the Mahdi himself, can an exchange of
the captives be effected.”

“Do the lower classes in Egypt really favor the Mahdi?”

“The Mahdi has followers even in the army, which
perhaps for that reason fights so poorly.”

“But how can the Sudanese fly across the desert?
Why, that is a thousand miles.”

“Nevertheless, by that route slaves were brought into
Egypt.”

“T should judge that Fatma’s children could not endure
such a journey.”

“That is why she wants to shorten it and ride by way
of the sea to Suaékin.”’

“Tn any case, she is a poor woman.”

With this the conversation concluded.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 23

Twelve hours later “the poor woman,” having care-
fully closeted herself in her house with the son of the
overseer Chadigi, whispered to him with knitted brows
and a grim glance of her beautiful eyes:

“Chamis, son of Chadigi, here is the money. Go even
to-day to Medinet and give to Idris this writing, which
the devout dervish Bellali, at my request, wrote to him.
The children of the mehendes are good, but if I do not
obtain a permit, then there is no other alternative. I
know you will not betray me. Remember that you and
your father too come from the Dongolese tribe in which
was born the great Mahdi.”

Hil

BotH engineers left the following night for Cairo where
they were to visit the British minister plenipotentiary
and hold an audience with the viceroy. Stas calculated
that this would require two days, and his calculation
appeared accurate, for on the third day at night he re-
ceived from his father, who was already at Medinet, the
following message: “The tents are ready. You are to
leave the moment your vacation begins. Inform Fatma
through Chadigi that we could not accomplish anything
for her.” A similar message was also received by Madame
Olivier who at once, with the assistance of the negress
Dinah, began to make preparations for the journey.

The sight of these preparations gladdened the hearts
of the children. But suddenly an accident occurred which
deranged their plans and seemed likely to prevent their
journey. On the day on which Stas’ winter vacation
began and on the eve of their departure a scorpion stung
Madame Olivier during her afternoon nap in the garden.
These venomous creatures in Egypt are not usually very
dangerous, but in this case the sting might become ex-
ceptionally baleful. The scorpion had crawled onto the
head-rest of the linen chair and stung Madame Olivier in
the neck at a moment when she leaned her head against
the rest. As she had suffered lately from erysipelas in the
face, fear was entertained that the sickness might recur.
A physician was summoned at once, but he arrived two

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 25

hours later as he had engagements elsewhere. The neck
and even the face were already swollen, after which fever
appeared, with the usual symptoms of poisoning. The
physician announced that under the circumstances there
could not be any talk of a journey and ordered the patient
to bed. In view of this it seemed highly probable that
the children would be compelled to pass the Christmas
holidays at home. In justice to Nell it must be stated
that in the first moments particularly she thought more
of the sufferings of her teacher than of the lost pleasures
in Medinet. She only wept in corners at the thought of
not seeing her father for a few weeks. Stas did not accept
the accident with the same resignation. He first for-
warded a dispatch and afterwards mailed a letter with
an inquiry as to what they were to do. The reply came
in two days. Mr. Rawlinson first communicated with
the physician; having learned from him that immediate
danger was removed and that only a fear of the recurrence
of erysipelas prevented Madame Olivier’s departure from
Port Said, he, above all, took precaution that she should
have proper care and nursing, and afterwards sent the
children permission to travel with Dinah. But as Dinah,
notwithstanding her extreme attachment for Nell, was not
able to take care of herself on the railways and in the
hotels, the duties of guide and paymaster during this
trip devolved upon Stas. It can easily be understood
how proud he was of this réle and with what chivalrous
spirit he assured little Nell that not a hair would fall
from her head, as if in reality the road to Cairo and to
Medinet presented any difficulties or dangers.

All preparations having been completed, the children
started that very day for Ismailia by way of the Canal.
From Ismailia they were to travel by rail to Cairo, where
they were to pass the night. On the following day they

26 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

were to ride to Medinet. Leaving Ismailia they saw
Lake Timsaéh which Stas already knew, as Pan Tarkowski,
being an ardent sportsman, in moments free from his
duties had taken Stas along with him to hunt for aquatic
birds. Afterwards the road ran along Wadi Tiimilat
close to the fresh-water canal leading from the Nile to
Ismailia and Suez. This canal had been dug before the
Suez Canal, so that the workingmen working on De Les-
seps’ grand achievement would not be deprived entirely
of water fit for drinking purposes. But its excavation
had yet another fortunate result, for this region, which
before was a sterile desert, bloomed anew when through
it coursed a strong and life-bringing stream of fresh water.
The children could observe on the left side from the
windows of the coach a wide belt of verdure composed
of meadows on which were pastured horses, camels, and
sheep, and of tilled fields, diversified with maize, millet,
alfalfa, and other varieties of plants used for fodder. On
the bank of the canal could be seen all kinds of wells in
the shape of large wheels with buckets attached, or in the
usual form of well-sweeps, drawing water, which fellahs
laboriously carried to the garden-beds or conveyed in
barrels, on wagons drawn by buffaloes. Over the sprouting
grain pigeons soared, and at times a whole covey of quails
sprang up. On the canal banks, storks and cranes gravely
stalked. In the distance, above the mud hovels of the
fellahs towered, like plumes of feathers, the crowns of date
palms.

On the other hand, on the north side of the railway
there stretched a stark desert, but unlike the one which
lay on the other side of the Suez Canal. That one looked
as level as would the bottom of the sea, from which the
water had disappeared and only wrinkled sand remained,
while here the sand was more yellowish, heaped up as if

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 27

in great knolls, covered on the sides with tufts of gray
vegetation. Between those knolls, which here and there
changed into high hills, lay wide valleys in which from
time to time caravans could be seen moving.

From the windows of the car the children could catch
sight of heavily loaded camels, walking in a long string,
one after another, over the sandy expanse. In front of each
camel was an Arab in a black mantle, with a white turban
on his head. Little Nell was reminded of the pictures
in the Bible, which she had seen at home, representing
the Israelites entering Egypt during the times of Joseph.
They were exactly the same. Unfortunately she could
not see the caravans very well as at the windows on that
side of the car sat two English officers, who obstructed
her view.

But she had scarcely told this to Stas, when he turned
to the officers with a very grave mien and, touching his
hat with his finger, said:

“Gentlemen, could you kindly make room for this
little Miss who wishes to look at the camels?”

Both officers accepted the suggestion with the same
gravity, and one of them not only surrendered his place
to the curious Miss but lifted her and placed her in a seat
near the window.

And Stas began his lecture:

“This is the ancient land of Goshen, which Pharaoh
gave to Joseph for his brother Israelites. At one time
in far antiquity a canal of fresh water ran here so that
this new one is but a reconstruction of the old. But later
it fell into ruin and the country became a desert. Now
the soil again is fertile.”

“How does the gentleman know this?” asked one of
the officers.

“At my age, we know such things,” answered Stas;

28 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“and besides, not long ago Professor Sterling gave us a
lecture on Wadi Tamilat.”

Though Stas spoke English quite fluently, his slightly
different accent attracted the attention of the other
officer, who asked:

“Ts the little gentleman an Englishman?”

“Miss Nell, whose father entrusted her to my care on
this journey, is little. I am not an Englishman but a
Pole and the son of an engineer at the Canal.”

The officer, hearing the answer of the pert boy, smiled
and said:

“T esteem the Poles. I belong to a regiment of cavalry,
which during the times of Napoleon several times fought
with the Polish Uhlans, and that tradition until the
present day forms its glory and honor.” !

“T am pleased to form your acquaintance,’
Stas.

The conversation easily proceeded farther, for the officers
were evidently amused. It appeared that both were
also riding from Port Said to Cairo to see the British
minister plenipotentiary and to receive final instructions
for a long journey which soon awaited them. The younger
one was an army surgeon, while the one who spoke to
Stas, Captain Glenn, had an order from his government
to proceed from Cairo, via Suez, to Mombasa and assume
the government of the entire region adjoining that port
and extending as far as the unknown Samburu country.

Stas, who with deep interest read about travels in
Africa, knew that Mombasa was situated a few degrees

’ answered

1 Those regiments of English cavalry which during the times of
Napoleon met the Polish cavalry actually pride themselves with
that fact at the present time, and every officer speaking of his
regiment never fails to say, “‘We fought with the Poles.” See
Chevrillon, “‘ Aux Indes.” ;

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 29

beyond the equator and that the adjoining country,
though already conceded to be within the sphere of
English interests, was yet in truth little known; it was
utterly wild, full of elephants, giraffes, rhinoceroses,
buffaloes, and all kinds of antelopes, which the military,
missionary, and trading expeditions always encountered.
He also envied Captain Glenn with his whole soul and
promised to visit him in Mombasa and go hunting with
him for lions and buffaloes.

“Good, but I shall invite you to make the visit with
that little Miss,’”’ replied Captain Glenn, laughing and
pointing at Nell who at that moment left the window
and sat beside him.

“Miss Rawlinson has a father,’”’ answered Stas,
I am only her guardian during this journey.”

At this the other officer turned quickly around and
asked:

“Rawlinson? Is he not one of the directors of the
Canal and has he not a brother in Bombay?”’

“My uncle lives in Bombay,” answered Nell, raising
her little finger upwards.

“Then your uncle, darling, is married to my sister.
My name is Clary. We are related, and I am really de-
lighted that I met and became acquainted with you, my
little dear.”

And the surgeon was really delighted. He said that
immediately after his arrival at Port Said he inquired
for Mr. Rawlinson, but in the offices of the directory he
was informed that he had left for the holidays. He ex-
pressed also his regret that the steamer which he with
Captain Glenn was to take for Mombasa left Suez in a
few days, in consequence of which he could not make a
hurried visit to Medinet.

He smb requested Nell to convey his compliments

cc

and

30 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

to her father, and promised to write to her from Mom-
basa. Both officers now engaged mainly in a conversation
with Nell, so that Stas remained a little on the side. At
all stations they had a plentiful supply of mandarin
oranges, dates, and exquisite sherbet, and, besides by
Stas and Nell, these dainties were shared by Dinah, who
with all her good qualities was known for her uncommon
gluttony.

In this manner the trip to Cairo passed quickly for the
children. At the leave-taking the officers kissed Nell’s
little hands and face, and squeezed Stas’ right hand, and
at the same time, Captain Glenn, whom the resolute boy
pleased very much, said half-jokingly and half-seriously :

“Listen, my boy! Who knows where, when, and under
what circumstances we may yet meet in life. Remember,
however, that you can always rely upon my good will
and assistance.”

“And you may likewise rely upon me,” Stas answered
with a bow full of dignity.

IV

Pan TARKOWSKI, as well as Mr. Rawlinson, who loved
Nell better than his life, was delighted at the arrival of
the children. The young pair greeted their parents joy-
fully, and at once began to look about the tents, which
internally were completely fitted up and were ready for
the reception of the beloved guests. The tents appeared
superb to them; they were double, one was lined with
blue and the other with red flannel, overlaid at the bottom
with saddle-cloths, and they were as spacious as large
rooms. The agency which was concerned about the
opinion of the high officials of the Canal Company had
spared no effort for their comfort. At first Mr. Rawlinson
feared that a lengthy stay under tents might prove in-
jurious to Nell’s health, and if he agreed to the arrange-
ment, it was because they could always move to a hotel
in case of bad weather. Now, however, having fully
investigated everything on the place, he came to the
conclusion that days and nights passed in the fresh air
would be a hundredfold more beneficial for his only child
than a stay in the musty rooms of the small local hotels.
Beautiful weather favored this. Medinet, or rather
El-Medineh, surrounded by the sandy hills of the Lib-
yan Desert, has a much better climate than Cairo and
is not in vain called “the land of roses.” Owing to
its sheltered position and the plentiful moisture in the
air, nights there are not so cold as in other parts of Egypt,

32 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

even those lying further south. Winter is simply delight-
ful, and from November the greatest development of the
vegetation begins. Date palms, olive-trees, which on
the whole are scarce in Egypt, fig, orange, mandarin
trees, giant castor-oil plants, pomegranate and various
other southern plants cover this delightful oasis as with
a forest. The gardens are overflowing, as it were, with
a gigantic wave of acacias, elders, and roses, so that at
night every breeze carries their intoxicating scent. Here
one breathes with full breast and “does not wish to die,”
as the residents of the place say.

A similar climate is possessed only by Helwan lying on
the other side of the Nile and considerably farther north,
but Helwan lacks such luxuriant vegetation.

But Helwan awoke sad recollections for Mr. Rawlinson,
for there Nell’s mother had died. For this reason he
preferred Medinet, and gazing at present at the glow-
ing countenance of the little girl, he promised to himself
in his soul soon to purchase here land with a garden; to
erect upon it a comfortable English house and spend
in these blissful parts all vacations which he could secure,
and after finishing his service on the Canal, perhaps
even to reside here permanently.

But these were plans of the distant future and not
yet wholly matured. In the meantime the children from
the moment of their arrival moved about everywhere
like flies, desiring even before dinner to see all the tents
as well as the donkeys and camels hired at the place by
the Cook Agency. It appeared that the animals were
on a distant pasture and that they could not see them
until the morrow. However, near Mr. Rawlinson’s tent
they observed with pleasure Chamis, the son of Chadigi,
their good acquaintance in Port Said. He was not in
the employ of Cook, and Mr. Rawlinson was somewhat

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 33

surprised to meet him in Medinet, but as he had pre-
viously employed him to carry his implements, he engaged
him at present to run errands and perform all other small
services.

The evening dinner was excellent, as the old Copt,
who for many years was a cook in the employment of
the Cook Agency, was anxious to display his culinary
skill. The children told about the acquaintance they
made with the two officers on the way, which was par-
ticularly interesting to Mr. Rawlinson, whose brother
Richard was married to Dr. Clary’s sister and had resided
in India for many years. As it was a childless marriage,
this uncle greatly loved his little niece, whom he knew
only from photographs, and he had inquired about her
in all his letters. Both fathers were also amused at the
invitation which Stas had received from Captain Glenn
to visit Mombasa. The boy took it seriously and posi-
tively promised himself that sometime he must pay a visit
to his new friend beyond the equator. Pan Tarkowski
then had to explain to him that English officials never
remain long in the same locality on account of the deadly
climate of Africa, and that before Stas grew up the captain
already would hold his tenth position in rotation or would
not be on earth at all.

After dinner the whole company went out in front of
the tents, where the servants placed the cloth folding-
chairs, and for the older gentlemen brought a siphon of
soda-water with brandy. It was already night but un-
usually warm; as there happened to be full moon it was
as bright as in daytime. The white walls of the city
buildings opposite the tents shone greenly; the stars
glowed in the sky, and in the air was diffused the scent
of roses, acacias, and heliotropes. The city already was
asleep. In the silence of the night at times could be

34 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

heard only the loud cries of cranes, herons, and flamingoes
flying from beyond the Nile in the direction of Lake
Karun. Suddenly, however, there resounded the deep
bass bark of a dog which astonished Stas and Nell, for
it appeared to come from a tent which they had not
visited and which was assigned for saddles, implements,
and various traveling paraphernalia.

“That must be an awfully big dog. Let us go and
see him,” said Stas.

Pan Tarkowski began to laugh and Mr. Rawlinson
shook off the ashes of his cigar and said, also laughing:

“Well, it did not do any good to lock him up.”

After which he addressed the children:

“Remember, to-morrow is Christmas Eve, and that
dog was intended by Pan Tarkowski to be a surprise
for Nell, but as the surprise has started to bark, I am
compelled to announce it to-day.”

Hearing this, Nell climbed in a trice on Pan Tarkowski’s
knees and embraced his neck and afterwards jumped onto
her father’s lap.

“Papa, how happy I am! how happy I am!”

Of hugs and kisses there was no end. Finally Nell,
finding herself on her own feet, began to gaze in Pan
Tarkowski’s eyes:

“Pan Tarkowski —”’

“What is it, Nell?”

“__ As I already know that he is there, can I see him
to-night?”

“T knew,” exclaimed Mr. Rawlinson, feigning indigna-
tion, “that this little fly would not be content with the
news itself.”

And Pan Tarkowski, turning to the son of Chadigi, said:

“Chamis, bring the dog.”

The young Sudanese disappeared behind the kitchen

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 35

tent and after a while reappeared, leading a big dog by
the collar.

Nell retreated.

“Oh,” she exclaimed, seizing her father’s hand.

On the other hand, Stas grew enthusiastic.

“But that is a lion, not a dog,” he said.

“He is called Saba (lion), answered Pan Tarkowski.
“He belongs to the breed of mastiffs; these are the biggest
dogs in the world. This one is only two years old but
really is exceedingly large. Don’t be afraid, Nell, as he
is as gentle as a lamb. Only be brave. Let him go,
Chamis.”’

Chamis let go of the collar with which he had re-
strained the dog, and the latter, feeling that he was free,
began to wag his tail, fawn before Pan Tarkowski
with whom he was already well acquainted, and bark
joyfully.

The children gazed in the moonlight with admiration
on his large round head with hanging lips, on his bulky
paws, on his powerful frame, reminding one, in truth, of a
lion with the tawny-yellowish color of his body.

“With such a dog one could safely go through Africa,”
exclaimed Stas.

“Ask him whether he could retrieve a rhinoceros,”
said Pan Tarkowski.

Saba could not, indeed, answer that question, but instead
wagged his tail more and more joyfully and drew near
to the group so ingratiatingly that Nell at once ceased to
fear him and began to pat him on his head.

“Saba, nice, dear Saba.”

Mr. Rawlinson leaned over him, raised his head towards
the face of the little girl, and said:

“Saba, look at this little lady. She is your mistress.
You must obey and guard her. Do you understand?”

36 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“Wow!” was the basso response of Saba, as if he ac-
tually understood what was wanted.

And he understood even better than might have been
expected, for taking advantage of the fact that his head
was on a level with the little girl’s face, as a mark of
homage he licked her little nose and cheeks with his
broad tongue.

This provoked a general outburst of laughter. Nell
had to go to the tent to wash herself. Returning after
a quarter of an hour she saw Saba with paws upon the
shoulders of Stas, who bent under the weight; the dog
was higher by a head.

The time for sleep was approaching, but the little one
asked for yet half an hour of play in order to get better
acquainted with her new friend. In fact, the acquain-
tance proceeded so easily that Pan Tarkowski soon placed
her in lady fashion on Saba’s back and, holding her from
fear that she might fall, ordered Stas to lead the dog by
the collar. She rode thus a score of paces, after which
Stas tried to mount this peculiar “saddle-horse,” but
the dog sat on his hind legs so that Stas unexpectedly
found himself on the sand near the tail.

The children were about to retire when in the distance
on the market place, illumined by the moon, appeared
two white figures walking towards the tents.

The hitherto gentle Saba began to growl hollowly and
threateningly so that Chamis, at Mr. Rawlinson’s order,
again had to take hold of the collar, and in the mean-
time two men dressed in white burnooses stood before the
tent.

“Who is there?” asked Pan Tarkowski.

“Camel drivers,’’ answered one of the arrivals.

“ Ah, Idris and Gebhr? What do you want?”

“We come to ask whether you will need us to-morrow.”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 37

“No. To-morrow and the day after are great holidays,
during which it is not proper to make excursions. Come
on the morning of the third day.”

“Thank you, effendi.”’

“Have you good camels?’”’ asked Mr. Rawlinson.

“ Bismillah!’”? answered Idris; “real saddle-horses with
fat humps and as gentle as ha’-ga (lambs). Otherwise
Cook would not have employed us.”

“Do they jolt much?”

“Gentlemen, you can place a handful of kidney-beans
on their backs and not a grain will fall during the fullest
speed.”

“Tf one is to exaggerate, then exaggerate after the
Arabian fashion,” said Pan Tarkowski, laughing.

“Or after the Sudanese,” added Mr. Rawlinson.

In the meantime Idris and Gebhr continued to stand
like two white columns, gazing attentively at Stas and
Nell. The moon illumined their very dark faces, and
in its luster they looked as if cast of bronze. The whites
of their eyes glittered greenishly from under the turbans.

“Good night to you,” said Mr. Rawlinson.

“May Allah watch over you, effendi, in night and in
day.”

Saying this, they bowed and went away. They were
accompanied by a hollow growl, similar to distant thunder,
from Saba, whom the two Sudanese apparently did not
please.

V

Durine the following days there were no excursions.
Instead, on Christmas Eve, when the first star appeared
in heaven, a little tree in Mr. Rawlinson’s tent, intended
for Nell, was illuminated with hundreds of candles. To
serve as a Christmas tree there had been taken an arbor
vitae, cut in one of the gardens in Medinet; neverthe-
less, among its branchlets Nell found a profusion of dainties
and a splendid doll, which her father had brought from
Cairo for her, and Stas, his much desired English short
rifle. In addition he received from his father packages
containing various hunters’ supplies, and a saddle for
horseback riding. Nell could not contain herself for joy,
while Stas, although he thought that whoever owned a
genuine short rifle ought to possess a corresponding
dignity, could not restrain himself, and selecting the
time when no one was about, walked around the tent
on his hands. This knack, taught to him at the Port
Said school, he possessed to a surprising degree and with it
often amused Nell, who, besides, sincerely envied it in him.

Christmas Eve and the first day of the holidays were
passed by the children partly in church services, partly
in inspecting the gifts they had received, and in training
Saba. The new friend appeared to possess intelligence be-
yond all expectations. On the very first day he learned to
give his paw, retrieve handkerchiefs, which, however, he
would not surrender without some resistance, and he under-
stood that cleaning Nell’s face with his tongue was an act

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 39

unworthy of a gentlemanly dog. Nell, holding her fingers
at her little nose, gave him various instructions, while
he, concurring with motions of his tail, gave her in this
manner to understand that he heard with becoming
attention and took her lessons to heart. During their
strolls over the sandy city square the fame of Saba in
Medinet grew with each hour and, even as all fame, began
to have its disagreeable side, for it drew a whole swarm of
Arabian children. In the beginning they kept at a dis-
tance; afterwards, however, emboldened by the gentle-
ness of the “monster,” they approached more and more
closely, and in the end sat around the tent so that no one
could move about with any freedom. Besides, as every
Arabian child sucks sugar-cane from morning to night,
the children always attract after them legions of flies,
which besides being loathsome are noxious, for they
spread the Egyptian infection of inflammation of the
eyes. For this reason the servants attempted to disperse
the children, but Nell stood in their defense and, what is
more, distributed among the youngest “helou,”’ that
is, sweetmeats, which gained for her their great love but
also increased their number.

After three days the joint excursions began; partly on
the narrow-gauge railways of which the English had
built quite a number in Medinet el-Fayiim, partly on
donkeys, and sometimes on camels. It appeared that
in' the praises bestowed on those animals by Idris there
was indeed a great deal of exaggeration, for not merely
kidney-beans but even people could not easily keep on
the saddles; but there was also some truth. The camels
in reality belonged to the variety known as “hegin,” that
is, for carrying passengers, and were fed with good durra
(the local or Syrian maize) so that the humps were fat and
they appeared so willing to speed that it was necessary

40 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

to check them. The Sudanese, Idris and Gebhr, gained,
notwithstanding the wild glitter of their eyes, the con-
fidence and hearts of the company, and this through their
great willingness to serve and their extraordinary care
over Nell. Gebhr always had a cruel and a trifle bestial
expression of face, but Idris, quickly perceiving that that
little personage was the eye in the head of the whole
company, declared at every opportunity that he cared
more for her than for his own soul. Mr. Rawlinson con-
jectured indeed, that, through Nell, Idris wanted to reach |
his pocket, but believing at the same time that there
was not in the world a person who could not but love
his only child, he was grateful to him and did not stint
himself in giving “bakshish.”’

In the course of five days the party visited the near by
ruins of the ancient city of Crocodilopolis, where at one
time the Egyptians worshipped a deity called Sobk, which
had a human form with the head of a crocodile. After-
wards an excursion was made to the Hanar pyramids
and the remains of the Labyrinth. The longest trip was
on camel-back to Lake Karun. Its northern shore was a
stark desert, on which there were ruins of former Egyptian
cities, but no trace of life. On the other hand, on the
southern shore stretched a fertile country, magnificent,
with shores overgrown by heather and reeds and teeming
with pelicans, flamingoes, herons, wild geese, and ducks.
Only here did Stas find an opportunity for displaying his
marksmanship. The shooting from a common rifle as
well as from the short rifle was so extraordinary that
after every shot could be heard the astonished smacking
of the lips of Idris and the Arabian rowers, and the falling
of the birds into the water was accompanied by exclama-
tions of “ Bismillah” and “ Mashallah.”

The Arabians assured them that on the opposite desert-

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 41

shore were many wolves and hyenas, and that by tossing
amid the sand dunes the carcass of a sheep one might get
within shooting range. In consequence of these assur-
ances Pan Tarkowski and Stas passed two nights on
the desert near the ruins of Dima. But the first sheep
was stolen by Bedouins as soon as the hunters left it;
while the second lured only a lame jackal, which Stas
brought down. Further hunting had to be postponed
as the time had arrived for both engineers to inspect
the works conducted at Bahr Yisuf near El-Lahfin, south-
east from Medinet.

Mr. Rawlinson waited only for the arrival of Madame
Olivier. Unfortunately, in place of her, came a letter
from the physician informing them that the former ery-
sipelas in the face had recurred after the bite, and that
the patient for a long time would be unable to leave Port
Said. The situation actually became distressing. It
was impossible to take with them the children, old Dinah,
the tents, and all the servants, if only for the reason that
the engineers were to be one day here, another there, and
might receive requests to go as far as the great canal of
Ibrahimiyeh. In view of this, after a short consultation
Mr. Rawlinson decided to leave Nell under the care of
old Dinah and Stas, together with the Italian consular
agent and the local “Mudir” (governor) with whom he
had previously become acquainted. He promised also
to Nell, who grieved to part from her father, that from
all the nearer localities he would with Pan Tarkowski
rush to Medinet, or if they found some noteworthy sight,
would summon the children to them.

“We shall take with us, Chamis,” he said, “whom in a
certain case we shall send for you. Let Dinah always
keep Nell’s company, but as Nell does with her whatever
she pleases, do you, Stas, watch over both.”

42 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“You may be sure, sir,” answered Stas, “that I shall
watch over Nell, as over my own sister. She has Saba,
and I a short rifle, so let any one try to harm her —”’

“Tt is not about that that I am concerned,” said Mr.
Rawlinson. “Saba and the short rifle will certainly not
be necessary for you. You will be so good as to protect
her from fatigue and at the same time take care she does
not catch cold. I have asked the consul in case she feels
unwell to summon a doctor from Cairo immediately.
We shall send Chamis here for news as frequently as
possible. The Mudir will also visit you. I expect, besides,
that our absence will never be very long.”

Pan Tarkowski also was not sparing in his admonitions
to Stas. He told him that Nell did not require his defense
as there was not in Medinet nor in the whole province of
El-Fayum any savage people or wild animals. To think
of such things would be ridiculous and unworthy of a
boy who had begun his fourteenth year. So he was to be
solicitous and heedful only that they did not undertake
anything on their own account, and more particularly
excursions with Nell on camels, on which a ride was
fatiguing.

But Nell, hearing this, made such a sad face that Pan
Tarkowski had to placate her.

“Certainly,” he said, stroking her hair, “you will ride
camels, but with us or towards us, if we send Chamis for
you.” |

“But when alone are we not allowed to make an ex-
cursion, even though such a tiny bit of a one?” asked
the girl.

And she began to show on her finger about how little
an excursion she was concerned. The parents in the
end agreed that they could ride on donkeys, not on camels,
and not to ruins, where they might easily fall into some

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 43

hole, but over roads of adjacent fields and towards the
gardens beyond the city. The dragoman, together with
other Cook servants, was always to accompany the
children.

After this both gentlemen departed, but they left
for a place near by, Hanaret el-Matka, so that after
ten hours they returned to pass the night in Medinet.
This was repeated the succeeding few days until they had
inspected all the nearest work. Afterwards, when their
employment required their presence at more distant
places, Chamis arrived in the night time, and early in
the following morning took Stas and Nell to those little
cities, in which their parents wanted to show them some-
thing of interest. The children spent the greater part
of the day with their parents and before sunset returned
to the camp at Medinet. There were, however, days on
which Chamis did not come, and then Nell, notwith-
standing the society of Stas, and Saba in whom she con-
tinually discovered some new traits, looked with longing
for a messenger. In this manner the time passed until
Twelfth Night, on the day of which festival both engineers
returned to Medinet.

Two days later they went away again, announcing
that they left this time for a longer period and in all prob-
ability would reach as far as Benisueif, and from there
to El-Fachn, where a canal of the same name begins,
going far south alongside of the Nile.

Great, therefore, was the astonishment of the children,
when on the third day at eleven o’clock in the morning
Chamis appeared in Medinet. Stas met him first as he
went to the pasturage to look at the camels. Chamis
conversed with Idris, and only told Stas that he came
for him and Nell and that he would come immediately
to the camp to inform them where they, at the request

at IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

of the older gentlemen, were to go. Stas ran at once with
the good news to Nell, whom he found playing with Saba
before the tent.

“Do you know —Chamis is here!” he cried from
a distance.

And Nell began at once to hop, holding both feet to-
gether, as little girls do when skipping the rope.

“We shall go! We shall go!” .

“Yes. We shall go, and far.”

“Where?” she asked, brushing aside with her little
hands a tuft of hair which fell over her eyes.

“T don’t know. Chamis said that in a moment he
would come here and tell us.”

“How do you know it is far?”’

“Because I heard Idris say that he and Gebhr would
start at once with the camels. That means that we shall
go by rail and shall find the camels at the place where
our parents will be, and from there we shall make some
kind of an excursion.”

The tuft of hair, owing to the continual hops, covered
again not only Nell’s eyes but her whole face, her feet
bounding as if they were made of India rubber.

A quarter of an hour later, Chamis came and bowed
to both. :

“Khanage (young master),” he said, “we leave after
three hours by the first train.”

“Where are we going?”

“To Gharak el-Sultani, and from there with the older
gentlemen on camel-back to Wadi Rayan.”

Stas’ heart beat with joy, but at the same time Chamis’
words surprised him. He knew that Wadi Rayan was
a great valley among sandy hills rising on the Libyan
Desert on the south and southwest of Medinet, while
on the other hand Pan Tarkowski and Mr. Rawlinson

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 45

announced on their departure that they were going in a
directly opposite direction, towards the Nile.

“What has happened?” asked Stas. “Then my
father and Mr. Rawlinson are not in Benisueif but in
El-Gharak?”’

“Tt happened thus,” replied Chamis.

“But they ordered us to write to them at El-Fachn.”

“In a letter the senior effendi explains why they are
in El-Gharak.”’

And for a while he searched on his person for the letter,
after which he exclaimed:

“Oh, Nabi! (prophet) I left the letter in a pouch with
the camels. I will run at once before Idris and Gebhr
depart.”

And he ran towards the camels. In the meantime the
children, with Dinah, began to prepare for the journey.
As it looked as if the excursion would be a long one,
Dinah packed several dresses, some linen, and warmer
clothing for Nell. Stas thought of himself, and especially
did not forget about the short rifle and cartridges, hoping
that among the sand dunes of Wadi Rayan he might
encounter wolves and hyenas.

Chamis did not return until an hour later; he was
covered with perspiration and so fatigued that for a while
he could not catch his breath.

“‘T did not find the camels,” he said. “I chased after
them, but in vain. But that does not matter as we shall
find the letter and the effendis themselves in El-Gharak.
Is Dinah to go with you?”

“Why not?”

“Perhaps it would be better if she remained. The
older gentlemen said nothing about her.”

“But they announced on leaving that Dinah was always
to accompany the little lady. So she shall ride now.”

46 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Chamis bowed, placing his hand on his heart and said:

“Let us hasten, sir, for otherwise the katr (train) will
set off.”

The baggage was ready, so they were at the station on
time. The distance between Medinet and Gharak is not
more than nineteen miles, but the trains on the branch
line which connects those localities move slowly and the
stops were uncommonly frequent. If Stas had been
alone he undoubtedly would have preferred to ride
camel-back as he calculated that Idris and Gebhr, having
started two hours before the train, would be earlier in
El-Gharak. But for Nell such a ride would be too long;
and the little guardian, who took very much to heart
the warnings of both parents, did not want to expose
the little girl to fatigue. After all the time passed for
both so quickly that they scarcely noticed when they
stopped in Gharak.

The little station, from which Englishmen usually
make excursions to Wadi Ray4én, was almost entirely
deserted. They found only a few veiled women, with
baskets of mandarin oranges, two unknown Bedouin
camel drivers, together with Idris and Gebhr, with seven
camels, one of which was heavily packed. Of Pan Tar-
kowski and Mr. Rawlinson there was no trace.

But Idris in this manner explained their absence.

“The older gentlemen went into the desert to pitch
the tents which they brought with them from Etsah,
and ordered us to follow them.”

“And how shall we find them among the sand-hills?”
asked Stas.

“They sent guides who will lead us to them.”

Saying this he pointed to the Bedouins. The older
of them bowed, rubbed with his finger the one eye which
he possessed, and said:

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 47

“Our camels are not so fat but are not less speedy
than yours. After an hour we shall be there.”

Stas was glad that he would pass the night on the
desert, but Nell felt a certain disappointment, for she
had been certain that she would meet her papa in Gharak.

In the meantime the station-master, a sleepy Egyptian
with a red fez and dark spectacles, approached them,
and, not having anything else to do, began to stare at the
European children.

“These are the children of those Englishmen who rode
this morning with rifles to the desert,” said Idris, placing
Nell on the saddle.

Stas, handing his short rifle to Chamis, sat beside
her, for the saddle was wide and had the shape of a palan-
quin without a roof. Dinah sat behind Chamis, the others
took separate camels, and the party started.

If the station-master had stared at them longer he
might perhaps have wondered that those Englishmen,
of whom Idris spoke, rode directly to the ruins on the
south, while this party at once directed its movements
towards Talei, in a different direction. But the station-
master before that time had returned home as no other
train arrived that day at Gharak.

The hour was five in the afternoon. The weather
was splendid. The sun had already passed on that side
of the Nile and declined over the desert, sinking into
the golden and purple twilight glowing on the western
side of the sky. The atmosphere was so permeated with
the roseate luster that the eyes blinked from its super-
fluity. The fields assumed a lily tint, while the distant
sand-hills, strongly relieved against the background of
the twilight, had a hue of pure amethyst. The world
lost the traits of reality and appeared to be one play of
supernal lights.

48 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

While they rode over a verdant and cultivated region,
the guide, a Bedouin, conducted the caravan with a
moderate pace. But with the moment that the hard
sand creaked under the feet of the camels, everything
changed.

“Yalla! Yalla!’’ suddenly yelled wild voices.

And simultaneously could be heard the swish of whips
and the camels, having changed from an ambling pace
into a full gallop, began to speed like the whirlwind,
throwing up with their feet the sand and gravel of the
desert.

eYallal Yallals7

The ambling pace of a camel jolts more, while the gallop
with which this animal seldom runs, swings more; so
the children enjoyed this mad ride. But it is known that
even in a swing, too much rapid movement causes dizzi-
ness. Accordingly, after a certain time, when the speed
did not cease, Nell began to get dizzy and her eyes grew dim.

“Stas, why are we flying so?” she exclaimed, turning
to her companion.

“T think that they allowed them to get into too much
of a gallop and now cannot check them,” answered Stas.

But observing that the little girl’s face was becoming
pale, he shouted at the Bedouins, running ahead, to
slacken their pace. His calls, however, had only this result:
that again resounded the cries of “ aes and the animals
increased their speed.

The boy thought at first that the Peden did not
hear him, but when on his repeated orders there was no
response and when Gebhr, who was riding behind him,
did not cease lashing the camel on which he sat with
Nell, he thought it was not the camels that were so spirited
but that the men for some reason unknown to him were
in a great hurry.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 49

It occurred to him that they might have taken the wrong
road and that, desiring to make up for lost time, they
now were speeding from fear that the older gentlemen
might scold them because of a late arrival. But after a
while he understood that such could not be the case, as
Mr. Rawlinson would have been more angered for un-
necessarily fatiguing Nell. Then what did it mean? And
why did they not obey his commands? In the heart of the
boy anger and fear for Nell began to rise.

“Stop!” he shouted with his whole strength, addressing
Gebhr.

“Ouskout! (be silent)!” the Sudanese yelled in reply;
and they sped on.

In Egypt night falls about six o’clock, so the twilight
soon became extinct and after a certain time the great
moon, ruddy from the reflection of the twilight, rolled
on and illuminated the desert with a gentle light.

In the silence could be heard only the heavy breathing
of the camels, the rapid hoof-beats on the sand, and at
times the swish of whips. Nell was so tired that Stas had
to hold her on the saddle. Every little while she asked
how soon they would reach their destination, and evi-
dently was buoyed up only by the hope of an early meeting
with her father. But in vain both children gazed around.
One hour passed, then another; neither tents nor camp-
fires could be seen.

Then the hair rose on Stas’ head, for he realized that
they were kidnapped.

VI

Messrs. Rawiinson and Tarkowski actually expected
the children, not amidst the sand-hills of Wadi Rayan,
where they had no need or desire to ride, but in an en-
tirely different direction, in the city of El-Fachn on a
canal of the same name at which they were examining the
work finished before the end of the year. The distance
between El-Fachn and Medinet in a straight line is
almost twenty-eight miles. As, however, there is no direct
connection and it is necessary to ride to El-Wasta, which
doubles the distance, Mr. Rawlinson, after looking over
the railway guide, made the following calculations.

“Chamis left the night before last,” he said to Pan
Tarkowski, “and in El-Wasta he caught the train from
Cairo; he was therefore in Medinet yesterday. It would
take an hour to pack up. Leaving at noon they would
have to wait for the night train running along the Nile,
and as I do not permit Nell to ride at night, they would
leave this morning and will be here immediately after
sunset.”

“Yes,” said Pan Tarkowski, “Chamis must rest a
little, and though Stas is indeed impulsive, nevertheless,
where Nell is concerned you may always depend upon
him. Moreover, I sent him a postal card not to ride
during the night.”

“A brave lad, and I trust him,” answered Mr. Raw-
linson.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 51

“To tell the truth, so do I. Stas with his various faults
has an upright character and never lies, for he is brave,
and only a coward lies. He also does not lack energy
and if in time he acquires a calm judgment, I think he
will be able to take care of himself in this world.”

“Certainly. As to judgment, were you judicious at
his age?”’

“T must confess that I was not,” replied Pan Tarkowski,
laughing, “but I was not so self-confident as he.”

“That will pass. Meanwhile, be happy that you have
such a boy.”

“And you that you have such a sweet and dear creature
as Nell.”

“May God bless her!”’ answered Mr. Rawlinson with
emotion.

The two friends warmly shook hands, after which
they sat down to examine the plans and the report of
expenditures connected with the work. At this occu-
pation the time passed until evening.

About six o’clock, when night fell, they were at the
station, strolling along the walk, and resumed their con-
versation about the children.

“Superb weather, but cool,” said Mr. Rawlinson. “I
wonder if Nell took some warm clothing with her.”

“Stas will think of that, and Dinah also.”

“T regret, nevertheless, that instead of bringing them
here, we did not go to Medinet.”

“You will recollect that that is just what I advised.”

“T know, and if it were not that we are to go from here
farther south, I would have agreed. I calculated, however,
that the trip would take too much time and on the whole
it would be best to have the children here. Finally, I
will confess to you that Chamis suggested the idea to
me. He announced that he prodigiously yearned for

52 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

them and would be happy if I sent for both. I am not
surprised that he should be so attached to them.”

Further conversation was interrupted by signals an-
nouncing the approach of the train. After an interval
the fiery eyes of the locomotive appeared in the darkness,
and at the same time could be heard its puffs and
whistle.

A row of lighted coaches drew alongside the platform,
quivered, and stood still.

“IT did not see them in any window,” said Mr.
Rawlinson.

“Perhaps they are seated further inside and surely
will come out immediately.”

The passengers began to alight, but they were mainly
Arabs, as El-Fachn has nothing interesting to see except
beautiful groves of palms and acacias. The children did
not arrive.

“Chamis either did not make connections in El-Wasta,”’
declared Pan Tarkowski, with a shade of ill-humor, “or
after a night of travel overslept himself, and they will
not arrive until to-morrow.”

“That may be,’ answered Mr. Rawlinson, with un-
easiness, “but it also may be possible that one of them
is sick.”

“In that case Stas would have telegraphed.”

“Who knows but that we may find a despatch in the
hotel?”

“Let us go.”

But in the hotel no news awaited them. Mr. Raw-
linson became more and more uneasy.

“What do you think could have happened?” said
Pan Tarkowski. “If Chamis overslept himself, he would
not admit it to the children and would come to them
to-day and tell them that they are to leave to-morrow.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 53

To us he will excuse himself by claiming that he mis-
understood our orders. In any event, I shall telegraph
to Stas.”

“And I to the Mudir of Fayfim.”

After a while the despatches were sent. There was
indeed no cause for uneasiness; nevertheless, in waiting
for an answer the engineers passed a bad night, and early
morning found them on their feet.

The answer from the Mudir came about ten o’clock
and was as follows:

“Verified at station. Children left yesterday for
Gharak el-Sultani.”

It can easily be understood what amazement and anger
possessed the parents at this unexpected intelligence.
For some time they gazed at each other, as if they did
not understand the words of the despatch; after which
Pan Tarkowski, who was an impulsive person, struck the
table with his hand and said:

“That was Stas’ whim, but I will cure him of such
whims.”

“T did not expect that of him,” answered Nell’s father.

But after a moment he asked:

“But what of Chamis?”’

“He either did not find them and does not know what
to do or else rode after them.”

“Yes, I think so.”

An hour later they started for Medinet. In camp
they ascertained that the camels were gone, and at the
station it was confirmed that Chamis left with the children
for El-Gharak. The affair became darker and darker
and it could be cleared up only in El-Gharak.

In fact, only at that station did the dreadful truth begin
to dawn.

The station-master, the same sleepy one with dark

54 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

spectacles and red fez, told them that he saw a boy
about fourteen years old and an eight-year-old girl with
an old negress, who rode towards the desert. He did
not remember whether there were eight or nine camels
altogether, but observed that one was heavily packed
as if for a long journey, and the two Bedouins also
had big pack-saddles. He recollected also that when
he stared at the caravan one of the camel drivers,
a Sudanese, said to him that those were the children
of the Englishmen who before that had gone to Wadi
Rayan.

“Did those Englishmen return?” asked Pan Tarkowski.

“Yes. They returned yesterday with two slain wolves,”
answered the station-master; “and I was astonished
that they did not return with the children. But I did not
ask the reason as that was not my affair.”

Saying this he left to attend to his duties.

During this narrative Mr. Rawlinson’s face became
white as paper. Gazing at his friend with a wild look, he
took off his hat, pressed his hand to his forehead, covered
with perspiration, and staggered as if he were about to
fall. |

“Be a man, Rawlinson!” exclaimed Pan Tarkowski.
“Our children are kidnapped. It is necessary to rescue
them.”

“Nell! Nell!” repeated the unhappy Englishman.

“Nell and Stas! It was not Stas’ fault. Both were
enticed by trickery and kidnapped. Who knows why?
Perhaps for a ransom. Chamis undoubtedly is in the plot,
and Idris and Gebhr also.”

Here he recalled what Fatma had said about both
Sudanese belonging to the Dongolese tribe, in which the
Mahdi was born, and that Chadigi, the father of Chamis,
came from the same tribe. At this recollection his heart

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 55

for a moment became inert in his breast for he under-
stood that the children were abducted not for a ransom
but as an exchange for Smain’s family.

“But what will the tribesmen of the ill-omened prophet
do with them? They cannot hide them on the desert
or anywhere on the banks of the Nile, for they all would
die of hunger and thirst on the desert, and they certainly
would be apprehended on the Nile. Perhaps they will
try to join the Mahdi.”

And this thought filled Pan Tarkowski with dismay,
but the energetic ex-soldier soon recovered and began
in his mind to review all that happened and at the same
time seek means of rescue.

“Fatma,” he reasoned, “had no cause to revenge
herself either upon us or our children. If they have been
kidnapped it was evidently for the purpose of placing
them in the hands of Smain. In no case does death
threaten them. And this is a fortune in misfortune;
still a terrible journey awaits them which might be dis-
astrous for them.”’

And at once he shared these thoughts with his friend,
after which he spoke thus:

“Tdris and Gebhr, like savage and foolish men, imagine
that followers of the Mahdi are not far, while Khartim,
which the Mahdi reached, is about one thousand two hun-
dred and forty miles from here. This journey they must
make along the Nile and not keep at a distance from it
as otherwise the camels and people would perish from
thirst. Ride at once to Cairo and demand of the Khe-
dive that despatches be sent to all the military outposts
and that a pursuit be organized right and left along the
river. Offer a large reward to the sheiks near the banks
for the capture of the fugitives. In the villages let all
be detained who approach for water. In this manner

06 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Idris and Gebhr must fall into the hands of the authori-
ties and we shall recover the children.”

Mr. Rawlinson had already recovered his composure.

“T shall go,” he said. “Those miscreants forgot that
Wolseley’s English army, hurrying to Gordon’s relief,
is already on the way and will cut them off from the
Mahdi. They will not escape. They cannot escape.
I shall send a despatch to our minister in a moment, and
afterwards go myself. What do you intend to do?”

“T shall telegraph for a furlough, and not waiting for
an answer, shall follow their trail by way of the Nile to
Nubia, to attend to the pursuit.”

“Then we shall meet, as from Cairo I shall do the
same.”

“Good! And now to work!”

“With God’s help!” answered Mr. Rawlinson.

Vil

In the meantime the camels swept like a hurricane over
the sands glistening in the moonlight. A deep night
fell. The moon, at the beginning as big as a wheel and
ruddy, became pale and rolled on high. The distant
desert hills were enveloped with silvery vapors like muslin
which, not veiling their view, transformed them as if into
luminous. phenomena. From time to time from beyond
the rocks scattered here and there came the piteous
whining of jackals.

Another hour passed. Stas held Nell in his arms and
supported her, endeavoring in this way to allay the
fatiguing jolts of the mad ride. The little girl began
more and more frequently to ask him why they were
speeding so and why they did not see the tents and their
papas. Stas finally determined to tell her the truth, which
sooner or later he would have to disclose.

“Nell,” he said, “‘pull off a glove and drop it, unob-
served, on the ground.”

“Why, Stas?”

And he pressed her to himself and answered with a
kind of tenderness unusual to him:

“Do what I tell you.”

Nell held Stas with one hand and feared to let him go,
but she overcame the difficulty in this manner: she began
to pull the glove with her teeth, each finger separately,
and, finally taking it off entirely, she dropped it on the
ground.

58 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“After a time, throw the other,” again spoke Stas.
“T already have dropped mine, but yours will be easier
to observe for they are bright.”

And observing that the little girl gazed at him with
an inquiring look, he continued:

“Don’t get frightened, Nell. It may be that we
will not meet your or my father at all — and that these
foul people have kidnapped us. But don’t fear — for
if it is so, then pursuers will follow them. They will over-
take them and surely rescue us. I told you to drop the
gloves so that the pursuers may find clews. In the mean-
while we can do nothing, but later I shall contrive some-
thing — Surely, I shall contrive something; only do
not fear, and trust me.”

But Nell, learning that she should not see her papa
and that they are flying somewhere, far in the desert, be-
gan to tremble from fright and cry, clinging at the same
time close to Stas and asking him amid her sobs why they
kidnapped them and where they were taking them. He
comforted her as well as he could — almost in the same
words with which his father comforted Mr. Rawlinson.
He said that their parents themselves would follow in
pursuit and would notify all the garrisons along the Nile.
In the end he assured her that whatever might happen,
he would never abandon her and would always defend
her.

But her grief and longing for her father were stronger
even than fear; so for a long time she did not cease to
weep — and thus they flew, both sad, on a bright night,
over the pale sands of the desert.

Sorrow and fear not only oppressed Stas’ heart, but
also shame. He was not indeed to blame for what had
happened, yet he recalled the former boastfulness for
which his father so often had rebuked him. Formerly

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 59

he. was convinced that there was no situation to which
he was not equal; he considered himself a kind of un-
vanquished swashbuckler, and was ready to challenge
the whole world. Now he understood that he was a small
boy, with whom everybody could do as he pleased, and
that he was speeding in spite of his will on a camel merely
because that camel was driven from behind by a half-
savage Sudanese. He felt terribly humiliated and did
not see any way of resisting. He had to admit to him-
self that he plainly feared those men and the desert,
and what he and Nell might meet.

He promised sincerely not only to her but to himself
that he would watch over and defend her even at the
cost of his own life.

Nell, weary with weeping and the mad ride, which
had lasted already six hours, finally began to doze, and
at times fell asleep. Stas, knowing that whoever fell
from a galloping camel might be killed on the spot, tied
her to himself with a rope which he found on the saddle.
But after some time it seemed to him that the speed of
the camels became less rapid, though now they flew over
smooth and soft sands. In the distance could be seen
only the shifting hills, while on the plain began the noc-
turnal illusions common to the desert. The moon shone
in the heaven more and more palely and in the mean-
time there appeared before them, creeping low, strange
rosy clouds, entirely transparent, woven only from light.
They formed mysteriously and moved ahead as if pushed
by the light breeze. Stas saw how the burnooses of the
Bedouins and the camels became roseate when they
rode into that illuminated space, and afterwards the
whole caravan was enveloped in a delicate, rosy luster.
At times the clouds assumed an azure hue and thus it
continued until the hills were reached.

60 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Near the hills the speed of the camels slackened yet
more. All about could be seen rocks protruding from
sandy knolls or strewn in wild disorder amidst the sand
dunes. The ground became stony. They crossed a few
hollows, sown with stone and resembling the dried-up beds
of rivers. At times their road was barred by ravines about
which they had to make a detour. The animals began
to step carefully, moving their legs with precision as if in
a dance, among the dry and hard bushes formed by roses
of Jericho with which the dunes and rocks were abundantly
covered. Time and again some of the camels would
stumble and it was apparent that it was due to them to
give them rest.

Accordingly the Bedouins stopped in a sunken pass,
and dismounting from the saddles, proceeded to untie
the packs. Idris and Gebhr followed their example.
They began to attend to the camels, to loosen the saddle-
girths, remove the supplies of provisions, and seek flat
stones on which to build a fire. There was no wood or
dried dung, which Arabs use, but Chamis, son of Chadigi,
plucked roses of Jericho and built of them a big pile to
which he set fire. For some time, while the Sudanese
were engaged with the camels, Stas and Nell and her
nurse, old Dinah, found themselves together, somewhat
apart. But Dinah was more frightened than the children
and could not say a word. She only wrapped Nell in a
warm plaid and sitting close to her began with a moan
to kiss her little hands. Stas at once asked Chamis the
meaning of what had happened, but he, laughing, only
displayed his white teeth, and went to gather more roses
of Jericho. Idris, questioned afterwards, answered with
these words: “You will see!” and threatened him with
his finger. When the fire of roses, which smoldered more
than blazed, finally glowed they all surrounded it in a circle,

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 61

except Gebhr who remained with the camels, and they
began to eat cakes of maize, and dried mutton and goats’
meat. The children, famished by the long journey, also
ate, though at the same time Nell’s eyes were closed by
sleepiness. But in the meantime, in the faint light of
the fire, appeared dark-skinned Gebhr and with glitter-
ing eyes he held up two bright little gloves and asked:

“Whose are these?”

“Mine,” answered Nell with a sleepy and tired
voice.

“Yours, little viper?” the Sudanese hissed through
set teeth. “Then you mark the road so that your father
can know where to pursue us.”

Saying this, he struck her with a courbash, a terrible
Arabian whip, which cuts even the hide of a camel. Nell,
though she was wrapped in a thick plaid, shrieked from
pain and fright, but Gebhr was unable to strike her a
second time, for at that moment Stas leaped like a wild-
cat, butted Gebhr’s breast with his head, and afterwards
clutched him by the throat.

It happened so unexpectedly that the Sudanese fell
upon his back and Stas on top of him, and both began
to roll on the ground. The boy was exceptionally strong
for his age, nevertheless Gebhr soon overcame him. He
first pulled his hands from his throat, after which he
turned him over with face to the ground and, pressing
heavily on his neck with his fist, he began to lash his
back with the courbash.

The shrieks and tears of Nell, who seizing the hand of
the savage at the same time begged him “to forgive”
Stas, would not have availed if Idris had not unexpectedly
come to the boy’s assistance. He was older than Gebhr
and from the beginning of the flight from Gharak el-Sultani
all complied with his orders. Now he snatched the cour-

62 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

bash from his brother’s hand and, pushing him away,
exclaimed:

“ Away, you fool!”

“T’ll flog that scorpion!” answered Gebhr, gnashing
his teeth.

But at this, Idris seized his cloak at the breast and
gazing into his eyes began to say in a threatening though
quiet voice:

“The noble! Fatma forbade us to do any harm to those
children, for they interceded for her —”’

“T’ll flog him!” iterated Gebhr.

“And I tell you that you shall not raise the courbash
at either of them. If you do, for every blow, I shall give
you ten.”

And he began to shake him like a bough of a palm,
after which he thus continued:

“Those children are the property of Smain and if either
of them does not reach him alive, the Mahdi himself
(May God prolong his days infinitely!) would command
you to be hung. Do you understand, you fool?”

The name of the Mahdi created such a great impression
upon all his believers that Gebhr drooped his head at once
and began to repeat as if with fear:

“Allah akbar! Allah akbar!” ?

Stas rose, panting and whipped, but felt that if his
- father could have seen and heard him at that moment he
would have been proud of him, for he had not only leaped
to save Nell, without thinking, but now, though the blows
of the courbash burnt him like fire, he did not think of
his own pain but instead began to console and ask the
little girl whether the blow had injured her.

1 All relatives of the Mahdi were termed ‘‘ noble.” eee
2 This cry means, ‘God is great’; but Arabs utter it in
moments of fear, summoning aid.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 63

And afterwards he said:

“Whatever I got, I got, but he will never attack you.
Oh, if I only had some weapon!”

The little woman entwined his neck with her arms and
dampening his cheeks with tears began to assure him
that it did not pain her very much and that she was crying
not from pain but from sorrow for him. At this Stas
put his lips to her ear and whispered:

“Nell, I swear that, not because he whipped me, but
because he struck you, I shall not forgive him.” With
that the incident closed.

After a certain time Gebhr and Idris, becoming recon-
ciled, spread out their cloaks upon the ground and lay
upon them, and Chamis soon followed their example.
The Bedouins poured out durra for the camels, after which,
having mounted two unengaged camels, they rode in the
direction of the Nile. Nell, supporting her head on old
Dinah’s knee, fell asleep. The fire was dying out and
soon could be heard only the grinding of the durra in the
camels’ teeth. On high rolled small clouds which at times
veiled the moon, but the night was clear. Beyond the
rocks resounded the mournful whining of jackals.

After two hours the Bedouins returned with the camels
bearing leather bags filled with water. Having fed the
fire, they sat on the sand and commenced to eat. Their
arrival awoke Stas, who previously had been dozing, as well
as Chamis, son of Chadigi, and the two Sudanese. Then
at the camp-fire began the following conversation:

“Can we start?” Idris asked.

“No, because we must rest; — we and our camels.”

“Did any one see you?”

“Nobody. We reached the river between two villages.
In the distance dogs barked.”

“Tt will be necessary always to go for water at mid-

64 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

night and draw it at deserted places. Only let us get
past the first ‘challa’ (cataract); beyond that the vil-
lages are farther apart and they are more friendly to the
prophet. A pursuing party will undoubtedly follow us.”

At this Chamis turned over, with his back up, and
resting his face on his hands said:

“The Mehendes will first wait for the children in El-
Fachn during the whole night and until the following
train; later they will go to Fayim and from there to
Gharak. Only there will they understand what has hap-
pened and then they will have to return to Medinet to
send words flying over the copper wire to cities on the
Nile and to the camel-corps which will pursue us. All
that will take at least three days. Therefore we do not
need to tire our camels and can peacefully ‘drink smoke’
from pipe-stems.”’

Saying this, he pulled out a sprig of a rose of Jericho
and lit his pipe with it, while Idris began, according to
the Arabian habit, to smack his lips with satisfaction.

“You arranged it well, son of Chadigi,” he said, “but
it is necessary for us to take advantage of the time and
to drive during those three days and nights as far as
possible southward. I shall breathe freely only when
we shall cross the desert between the Nile and Kharga
(a great oasis west of the Nile). God grant that the
camels hold out.”

“They will hold out,” declared one of the Bedouins.

“People also say,” interposed Chamis, “that the army
of the Mahdi — may God prolong his life — has already
reached Assuan.”

Here Stas, who did not lose a word of this conversation
and remembered also what Idris had said to Gebhr, rose
and said:

“The army of the Mahdi is below Khartiim.”’

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 65

“La! La! (no! no!)’? Chamis contradicted.

“Don’t pay any attention to his words,” Stas replied,
“for he not only has a dark skin but also a dark brain.
Although you bought fresh camels every three days and
rushed as you have done this day, you would not reach
Khartim for a month. And perhaps you do not know
that an English, not an Egyptian, army bars the road
tO YOu. *

These words created a certain impression and Stas,
observing this, continued:

“Before you find yourselves between the Nile and
the great oasis all the roads on the desert will be picketed
by a line of army sentinels. Words over the copper wire
speed quicker than camels. How will you be able to slip
through?”

“The desert is wide,’ answered one of the Bedouins.

“But you must keep close to the Nile.”

“We can cross over, and when they seek us on this
side we shall be on the other.”

“Words speeding over the copper wire will reach cities
and villages on both banks of the river.”

“The Mahdi will send us an angel, who will place a
finger on the eyes of the Englishmen and the Turks
(Egyptians) and will screen us with his wings.”

“Tdris,” said Stas, “I do not address Chamis whose
head is like an empty gourd, nor Gebhr who is a vile
jackal, but you. I already know that you want to carry
us to the Mahdi and deliver us to Smain. But if you are
doing this for money, then know that the father of this
little ‘bint’ (girl) is richer than all the Sudanese put
together.”

“ And what of it?” interrupted Idris.

“What of it? Return voluntarily and the great Mehendi
will not spare money for you, nor will my father either.”

66 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“But they will give us up to the Government, which
will order us to be hung.”

“No, Idris. You undoubtedly will hang, but only in
case they capture you in the flight; and that surely will
happen. But if you return, no punishment will be meted
out to you, and besides you will be wealthy to the end
of your life. You know that the white people of Europe
always keep their word. Now I give you the word for
both Mehendes that it will be as I say.”

And Stas in reality was confident that his father and
Mr. Rawlinson would prefer to fulfil the promise made
by him than expose both of them, and especially Nell,
to the terrible journey and yet more terrible life among
the savage and maddened hordes of the Mahdi.

So with palpitating heart, he waited for the reply of
Idris who was plunged in silence and only after a long
interval said:

“You say that the father of the little ‘bint’ and yours
will give us a great deal of money?”

ce Yeu:

“But can all their money open for us the gates of para-
dise which only the blessing of the Mahdi can do?”

“Bismillah!” shouted both Bedouins together with
Chamis and Gebhr.

Stas at once lost all hope, for he knew that howsoever
much the people in the East are greedy and venal, never-
theless when a true Mohammedan views any matter from
the standpoint of faith, there are not any treasures in
the world with which he can be tempted.

Idris, encouraged by the shouts, continued, and evidently
not for the purpose of replying to Stas, but with a view
of gaining greater esteem and praise from his companions.

“We have the good fortune not only to belong to that
_ tribe which gave the holy prophet, but the noble Fatma

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 67

and her children are his relatives and the great Mahdi
loves them. If we deliver you and the little ‘bint’ to
him, he will exchange you for Fatma and her sons and
will bless us. Know that even the water, in which every
morning according to the precepts of the Koran he makes
his ablutions, heals the sick and eliminates sins; and
think what his blessing can accomplish!”

“Bismillah!” reiterated the Sudanese and Bedouins.

But Stas, clutching at the last plank for help, said:

“Then take me and let the Bedouins return with the
little ‘bint.’ For me they will surrender Fatma and her
sons.”

“Tt is yet more certain that they will surrender her
for you two.”

At this the boy addressed Chamis:

“Your father shall answer for your conduct.”

“My father is already in the desert, on his way to the
prophet,” retorted Chamis.

“Then they will capture and hang him.”

Here, however, Idris deemed it proper to give encourage-
ment to his companions.

“Those vultures,” he said, “which will pick the flesh
from our bones may not yet be hatched. We know what
threatens us, but we are not children, and we know the
desert of old. These men (here he pointed at the Bed-
ouins) were many times in Berber and are acquainted
with roads over which only gazelles roam. There no-
body will find us and nobody will seek us. We must
indeed turn for water to the Bahr Yisuf and later to
the Nile, but will do that in the night. Besides, do you
think that on the river there are no secret friends of the
Mahdi? And I tell you that the farther south we go the
more of them we will find. There, tribes and their sheiks
are only waiting for the favorable moment to seize the

68 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

sword in defense of the true faith. These alone will
supply water, food, and camels, and lead astray the
pursuit. In truth, we know that it is far to the Mahdi,
but we know also that every day brings us nearer to the
sheep’s hide on which the holy prophet kneels to pray.”

“Bismillah!”? shouted his companions for the third
time.

It was apparent that Idris’ importance grew among
them considerably. Stas understood that all was lost;
so, desiring at least to protect Nell from the malice of the
Sudanese, he said:

“After six hours the little lady reached here barely
alive. How can you think that she can endure such a
journey? If she should die, I also will die, and then with
what will you come to the Mahdi?”

Now Idris could not find an answer. Stas, perceiving
this, continued thus:

“ And how will the Mahdi and Smain receive you when
they learn that for your folly Fatma and her children
must pay with their lives?”’

But the Sudanese had recovered himself and replied:

“T saw how you grasped Gebhr’s throat. By Allah!
you are a lion’s whelp and will not die and she —”

Here he gazed at the little head of the sleeping girl
resting on the knees of old Dinah and finished in a kind
of strangely gentle voice:

“For her we will weave on the camel’s hump a nest,
as for a bird, that she may not at all feel fatigue and that
she may sleep on the road as peacefully as she is sleeping
now.” F

Saying this he walked towards the camels and with
the Bedouins began to make a seat for the little girl on
the back of the best dromedary. At this they chattered
a great deal and quarrelled among themselves but finally,

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 69

with the aid of ropes, shaggy coverlets, and short bamboo
poles they made something in the shape of a deep, immov-
able basket in which Nell could sit or lie down, but from
which she could not fall. Above this seat, so broad that
Dinah also could be accommodated in it, they stretched
a linen awning.

“You see,” said Idris to Stas, “quail’s eggs could not
crack in those housings. The old woman will ride with
the little lady to serve her day and night. — You will
sit with me, but can ride near her and watch over her.”

Stas was glad that he had secured even this much.
Pondering over the situation, he came to the conclusion
that in all probability they would be captured before they
reached the first cataract, and this thought gave him hope.
In the meantime he wanted above all things to sleep;
so he promised himself that he would tie himself with
some kind of rope to the saddle, and, as he would not
have to hold Nell, he could take a nap for a few hours.

The night already became paler and the jackals ceased
their whining amid the passes. The caravan was to
start immediately, but the Sudanese, observing the
dawn, went to a rock, a few paces away, and there, con-
formably with the precepts of the Koran, began their
morning ablutions, using, however, sand instead of water,
which they desired to save. Afterwards resounded
voices, saying the “soubhg,” or morning prayer. Amidst
the deep silence plainly could be heard their words:
“In the name of the compassionate and merciful God.
Glory to the Lord, the sovereign of the world, compassion-
ate and merciful on the day of judgment. Thee we wor-
ship and profess. Thee we implore for aid. Lead us
over the road of those to whom thou dost not spare
benefactions and grace and not over the paths of sinners
who have incurred Thy wrath and who err. Amen.”

70 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

And Stas, hearing these voices, raised his eyes upwards
and in that distant region, amidst tawny, gloomy sands,
began the prayer:

“We fly to Thy patronage, O Holy Mother of
God.”

VIII

THE night faded. The men already had the saddles on
the camels, when suddenly they observed a desert wolf,
which, with tail curled beneath it, rushed across the pass,
about a hundred paces from the caravan, and reaching
the opposite table-land, dashed ahead showing signs of
fright as if it fled before some enemy. On the Egyptian
deserts there are no wild animals before which wolves
could feel any fear and for that reason this sight greatly
alarmed the Sudanese Arabs. What could this be? Was
the pursuing party already approaching? One of the
Bedouins quickly climbed on a rock, but he had barely
glanced when he slipped down yet more quickly.

“By the prophet!” he exclaimed, confused and fright-
ened, “a lion is rushing towards us and is already close
by!”

And then from beyond the rocks came a bass “wow”
after which Stas and Nell shouted together:

“Saba! Saba!”

As in the Arabian language this means a lion, the
Bedouins became frightened yet more, but Chamis burst
out laughing and said:

“T know that lion.”

Saying this he whistled drawlingly and in a moment
the gigantic mastiff dashed among the camels. Seeing
the children he leaped towards them. From joy he over-
turned Nell who extended her hands to him; he reared

72 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

himself on Stas; afterwards whining and barking he ran
round both a few times, again overturned Nell, again
reared himself on Stas, and finally lying down at their
feet began to pant.

His sides were sunken, from his lolling tongue fell
clots of froth; nevertheless he wagged his tail and raised
his eyes full of love at Nell as if he wanted to say: “Your
father ordered me to watch over you, so here I am.”

The children sat close to him, one on each side, and
began to pat him. The two Bedouins, who never before
saw a creature like this, gazed at him with astonishment,
repeating: “On Allah! o kelb kebir!”’ (“By God! that is
a big dog!’’) while he for some time lay quietly. After-
wards he raised his head, inhaled the air through his
black nose resembling a big truffle, scented, and jumped
towards the extinct camp-fire, near which lay the remnants
of food.

In the same moment goat’s and lamb’s bones began
to crack and crumble as straw in his powerful teeth.
After eight people, counting old Dinah and Nell, there
was enough for such “kelb kebir.”

But the Sudanese were worried by his arrival and the
two camel drivers, calling Chamis to one side, began to
speak to him with uneasiness and even with indignation.

“Tblis! brought that dog here,’ exclaimed Gebhr,
“but in what manner did he find the children, since they
came to Gharak by rail?”

“Surely by the camel tracks,” answered Chamis.

“Tt happened badly. Everybody who sees him with
us will remember our caravan and will point out where
we went. We positively must get rid of him.”

“But how?” asked Chamis.

1 Iblis, one of the names of the devil in the Koran. — Trans-
lator’s note.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 73

“We have a rifle, so take it and shoot him in the
head.”

In a case of urgency, Chamis might be able, for Stas
had several times opened and closed his weapon before
him, but he was sorry for the dog of whom he was fond,
having taken care of him before the arrival of the children
at Medinet. He knew perfectly that the Sudanese had
no idea how to handle a weapon of the latest model and
would be at a loss what to do with it.

“Tf you don’t know how,” he said, with a crafty smile,
“that little ‘nouzrani’ (Christian) could kill the dog,
but that rifle can fire several times in succession; so I
do not advise you to put it in his hands.”

“God forbid!” replied Idris; “he would shoot us like
quails.”

“We have knives,”’ observed Gebhr.

“Try it, but remember that you have a throat which
the dog will pull to pieces before you stab him.”

“Then what is to be done?”’

Chamis shrugged his shoulder.

“Why do you want to kill the dog? If you should
afterwards bury him in the sand, the hyenas will dig
him out; the pursuers will find his bones and will know
that we did not cross the Nile but made off in this direc-
tion. Let him follow us. As often as the Bedouins go
for water and we hide in the passes, you may be sure that
the dog will stay with the children. Allah! It is better
that he came now, for otherwise he would lead the pur-
suing party on our tracks as far as Berber. You do not
need to feed him, for if our leavings are not sufficient it
will not be difficult for him to get a hyena or jackal. Leave
him in peace, I tell you, and do not lose any time in
idle talk.”

“Perhaps you are right,” said Idris.

74 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“Tf I am right, then I will give him water, so that he
shall not run to the Nile and show himself in the villages.”

In this manner was decided the fate of Saba who,
having somewhat rested himself and eaten his fill, in
the twinkling of an eye lapped up a bowl of water and
started with renewed strength after the caravan.

They now rode on high, level ground, on which the
wind wrinkled the sand and from which could be seen
on both sides the immense expanse of the desert. Heaven
assumed the tint of a pearl shell. Light little- clouds
gathered in the east and changed like opals, after which
they suddenly became dyed with gold. One ray darted,
afterwards another, and the sun — as is usual in southern
countries, in which there are scarcely any twilight and
dawn — did not ascend, but burst from behind the clouds
like a pillar of fire and flooded the horizon with a bright
light. It enlivened heaven, it enlivened the earth, and
the immeasurable sandy expanse was unveiled to the
eyes of men.

“We must hasten,” said Idris, “for here we can be
seen from a distance.”

Accordingly the rested and satiated camels sped on
with the celerity of gazelles. Saba remained behind,
but there was no fear that he would get lost and
not appear at the first short halt for refreshments. The
dromedary on which Idris rode with Stas ran close to
the one on which Nell was mounted, so that the children
could easily converse with each other. The seat which
the Sudanese had made appeared splendid and the little
girl really looked like a bird in a nest. She could
not fall, even sleeping, and the ride fatigued her far less
than during the night. The bright daylight gave cour-
age to both children. In Stas’ heart the hope entered
that since Saba had overtaken them, the pursuers might

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 75

do the same. This hope he at once shared with Nell,
who smiled at him for the first time since their abduction.

“When will they overtake us?” she asked in French
in order that Idris should not understand them.

“T donot know. It may be to-day; perhaps to-morrow;
perhaps after two or three days.”’

“But we will not ride back on camels?”

“No. We will ride only as far as the Nile, and after-
wards go by way of the Nile to El-Wasta.”’

“That is good! oh, good!”

Poor Nell, who had previously loved these rides, had
evidently now had enough of them.

“By way of the Nile —to El-Wasta and to papa
she began to repeat in a sleepy voice.

As at the previous stop she did not enjoy a full sound
sleep, she now fell into that deep sleep which after fatigue
comes towards morning. In the meantime the Bedouins
drove the camels without a rest and Stas observed
that they were making their way towards the interior
of the desert.

So, desiring to shake Idris’ confidence that he would
be able to elude the pursuit, and at the same time to
show him that he himself relied upon it as a dead cer-
tainty, he said:

“You are driving away from the Nile and from Bahr
Ydsuf, but that won’t help you, for of course they will
not seek you on the banks where villages lie side by side,
but in the interior of the desert.”

And Idris asked:

“How do you know that we are driving away from the
Nile, since the banks cannot be seen from here?”

“Because the sun, which is in the eastern part of
heaven, is warming our backs; that means we have
turned to the west.”

1»?

76 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“You are a wise boy,” said Idris with esteem.

After a while he added:

“But the pursuing party will not overtake us nor
will you escape.”

“No,” answered Stas, “I shall not escape — unless
with her.”

And he pointed to the sleeping girl.

Until noon they sped almost without pausing for breath,
but when the sun rose high in the sky and began to scorch,
the camels, which by nature perspire but little, were
covered with sweat, and their pace slackened considerably.
The caravan again was surrounded by rocks and dunes.
The ravines, which during the rainy season are changed
into channels of streams, or so-called “khors,’” came
to view more and more frequently. The Bedouins finally
halted in one of them which was entirely concealed amid
the rocks. But they had barely dismounted from the
camels when they raised a cry and dashed ahead, bend-
ing over every little while and throwing stones ahead
of them. Stas, who had not yet alighted from the saddle,
beheld a strange sight. From among the dry bushes
overgrowing the bed of the “khor,” a big snake emerged
and, gliding sinuously with the rapidity of lightning
among the fragments of rocks, escaped to some hiding-
place known to itself. The Bedouins chased it furiously
and Gebhr rushed to their aid with a knife. But owing
to the unevenness of the ground it was difficult either
to hit the snake with a stone or to pin it with a knife.
Soon all three returned with terror visible on their faces.

And the cries, customary with Arabs, resounded:

“ Allah!”

“Bismillah!”

“Mashallah!”

Afterwards both Sudanese began to look with a kind

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 77

of strange and, at the same time, searching and inquiring
gaze at Stas who could not understand what was the
matter.

In the meantime Nell also dismounted from her camel,
and though she was less tired than during the night,
Stas spread for her a saddle-cloth in the shade on a level
spot and told her to lie down, in order, as he said, that
she might straighten out her little feet. The Arabs pre-
pared their noon meal, which consisted of biscuits and
dates, together with a gulp of water. The camels were
not watered for they had drank during the night. The
faces of Idris, Gebhr and the Bedouins were still dejected,
and the stop was made in silence. Finally Idris called
Stas aside, and began to question him with a countenance
at once mysterious and perturbed.

“Did you see the snake?”

aid.

“Did you conjure it to appear before us?”

INO,

“Some ill-luck awaits us as those fools did not succeed
in killing it.”

“The gallows awaits you.”

“Be silent! Is your father a sorcerer?”

“He is,’ answered Stas without any hesitation, for
he understood in a moment that those savage and super-
stitious men regarded the appearance of a reptile as an
evil omen and an announcement that the flight would
not succeed.

“So then your father sent it to us,’ answered Idris,
“but he ought to understand that we can avenge our-
selves for his charms upon you.”

“You will not do anything to me as the sons of Fatma
would have to suffer for any injury to me.”

“And you already understand this? But remember

78 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

that if it was not for me, your blood would have
flowed under Gebhr’s courbash — yours and that little
“Dints: also.

“T therefore shall intercede for you only; but Gebhr
shall swing on the rope.”

At this Idris gazed at him for a while as if with astonish-
ment and said:

“Our lives are not yet in your hands and you already
talk to us as our lord —”’

After a while he added:

“You are a strange ‘uled’ (boy), and such a one I have
not yet seen. Thus far I have been kind to you, but
take heed and do not threaten.”’

“God punishes treachery,” answered Stas.

It was apparent, however, that the assurance with
which the boy spoke in connection with the evil omen
in the form of a snake which succeeded in escaping, dis-
quieted Idris in a high degree. Having already mounted
the camel he repeated several times: “Yes, I was kind
to you,”’ as if in any event he wished to impress this upon
Stas’ memory, and afterwards he began to finger the beads
of a rosary made of the shells of “dum” nuts, and pray.

About two o’clock, though it was in the winter season,
the heat became unusual. In the sky there was not a
cloudlet, but the horizon’s border was disfigured.

Above the caravan hovered a few vultures whose
widely outstretched wings cast moving, black shadows
on the tawny sands. In the heated air could be smelt
an odor like the gas exhaled from burning charcoal. The
camels, not ceasing to run, began to grunt strangely. One
of the Bedouins approached Idris.

“Some evil is brewing?”

“What, do you think?” asked the Sudanese.

“Wicked spirits awoke the wind slumbering on the

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 79

western desert, and he rose from the sands and is rush-
ing upon us.”

Idris raised himself on the saddle, gazed into the distance,
and replied:

“That is so. He is coming from the west and south
but is not as furious as a Khamsin.” 4

“Three years ago near Abu-Hamed he buried a whole
caravan and did not sweep the sand away until last
winter. Ualla! He may have enough strength to stuff
the nostrils of the camels and dry up the water in the
bags.”

“Tt is necessary that we speed so that he strike us
only with a wing.”

“We are flying in his eyes and are not able to avoid
him.”

“The quicker he comes, the quicker he will pass away.”

Saying this, Idris struck his camel with a courbash
and his example was followed by the others. For some
time could be heard the dull blows of the thick whips,
resembling the clapping of hands, and the cries of “ Yalla.”’
On the southwest the horizon, previously whitish, dark-
ened. The heat continued and the sun scorched the
heads of the riders. The vultures soared very high
evidently, for their shadows grew smaller and smaller,
and they finally vanished entirely.

It became sultry.

The Arabs yelled at the camels until their throats
became parched, after which they were silent and a
funereal quiet ensued, interrupted only by the groaning
of the animals.

Two very small foxes ? with big ears stole by the caravan,
running in an opposite direction.

1 A southwest wind which blows in the spring.
2 An animal smaller than our foxes, called “fennec.’”’

80 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

The same Bedouin, who had. previously conversed
with Idris, spoke out again in a strange and as if not his
own voice:

“This will not be a usual wind. Evil charms are pur-
suing us. The snake is to blame for all —”’

“T know,” answered Idris.

“Look! the air quivers. That does not happen in
winter.”

In fact the heated air began to quiver, and in conse-
quence of an illusion of the eyes it seemed to the riders
that the sands quivered. The Bedouin took his sweaty
cowl from his head and said:

“The heart of the desert beats with terror.”’

And at this the other Bedouin, riding in the lead as a
guide of the camels, turned around and began to shout:

“He is already coming! — He is coming!”

And in truth the wind came up. In the distance ap-
peared as it were dark clouds which in their eyes grew
higher and higher and approached the caravan. The
nearest waves of air all around became agitated and
sudden gusts of wind began to spin the sand. Here and
there funnels were formed as if someone had drilled the
surface of the desert with a cane. At places rose swift
whirlpools resembling pillars, thin at the bottom and
outspread on top like plumes of feathers. All this lasted
but the twinkling of an eye. The cloud which the camel-
guide first espied came flying towards them with an in-
conceivable velocity. It struck the people and beasts
like the wing of a gigantic bird. In one moment the
eyes and mouths of the riders were filled with sand.
Clouds of dust hid the sky, hid the sun, and the earth
became dusky. The men began to lose sight of one an-
other and even the nearest camel appeared indistinctly
as if in a fog. Not the rustle — for on the desert there

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS S1

are no trees — but the roar of the whirlwind drowned
the calls of the guide and the bellowing of the animals.
In the atmosphere could be smelt an odor such as coal
smoke gives. The camels stood still and, turning away
from the wind, they stretched their long necks downward
so that their nostrils almost touched the sand.

The Sudanese, however, did not wish to allow a stop,
as caravans which halt during a hurricane are often buried
in sand. At such times it is best to speed with the whirl-
wind, but Idris and Gehbr could not do this, for in thus
doing they would return to Fayfim from where they
expected a pursuit. So when the first gale passed they
again drove the camels.

A momentary stillness ensued but the ruddy dusk
dissipated very slowly for the sun could not pierce through
the clouds of dust suspended in the air. The thicker
and heavier particles of sand began to fall. Sand filled all
the cracks and punctures in the saddles and clung to the
folds of the clothes. The people with each breath in-
haled dust which irritated their lungs and grated their
teeth.

Besides, the whirlwind might break out again and hide
the whole world. It occurred to Stas that if at the time
of such darkness he was with Nell on the same camel,
he might turn around and escape with the wind north-
ward. Who knows whether they would be observed
amidst the dusk and confusion of the elements, and, if
they succeeded in reaching any village on Bahr Yisuf
near the Nile, Idris and Gebhr would not dare to pursue
them for they would at once fall into the hands of the
local “ police.”

Stas, weighing all this, jostled Idris’ shoulder and said:

“Give me the gourd with water.”

Idris did not refuse for howsoever much that morning

82 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

they had turned into the interior of the desert and quite
far from the river, they had enough of water, and the
camels drank copiously during the time of their night
stop. Besides this, as a man acquainted with the desert,
he knew that after a hurricane, rain usually follows and
the dried-up “khors” change temporarily into streams.

Stas in reality was thirsty, so he took a good drink,
after which, not returning the gourd, he again jostled
Idris’ arm.

“Halt the caravan.”

“Why?” asked the Sudanese.

“Because I want to sit on the camel with the little
‘bint’ and give her water.”

“Dinah has a bigger gourd than mine.”

“But she is greedy and surely has emptied it. A great
deal of sand must have fallen into her saddle which you
made like a basket. Dinah will be helpless.”’

“The wind will break out after a while and will refill
eae

“That is the more reason why she will require help.”

Idris lashed the camel with his whip and for a while
they rode in silence.

“Why don’t you answer?” Stas asked.

“Because I am considering whether it would be better
to tie you to the saddle or tie your hands behind.”

“You have become insane.”

“No. I have guessed what you intended to do.”

“The pursuers will overtake us anyway; so I would
not have to do it.”

“The desert is in the hands of God.”

They became silent again. The thicker sand fell en-
tirely; there remained in the air a subtile red dust, some-
thing of the nature of pollen, through which the sun
shone like a copper plate. But already they could see

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 83

ahead. Before the caravan stretched level ground at
the borders of which the keen eyes of the Arabs again
espied a cloud. It was higher than the previous one and,
besides this, there shot from it what seemed like pillars,
or gigantic chimneys expanding at the top. At this sight
the hearts of the Arabs and Bedouins quailed for they
recognized the great sandy whirlpools. Idris raised his
hands and drawing his palms towards his ears began to
prostrate himself to the approaching whirlwind. His
faith in one God evidently did not prevent his worship
and fear of others for Stas distinctly heard him say:

“Lord! We are thy children; therefore do not devour |
Us.

But the “lord” just dashed at them and assailed the
camels with a force so terrible that they almost fell to
the ground. The animals now formed a compact pack
with heads turned to the center towards each other.
Whole masses of sand were stirred. The caravan was
enveloped by a dusk deeper than before and in that dusk
there flew beside the riders dark and indistinct objects,
as though gigantic birds or camels were dispersed with
the hurricane. Fear seized the Arabs, to whom it seemed
that these were the spirits of animals and men who
had perished under the sands. Amid the roar and howl-
ing could be heard strange voices similar to sobs, to
laughter, to cries for help. But these were delusions.
The caravan was threatened by real danger, a hundred-
fold greater. The Sudanese well knew that if any one
of the great whirlpools, forming incessantly in the bosom
of the hurricane, should catch them in its whirls, it would
hurl the riders to the ground and disperse the camels,
and if it should break and fall upon them then in the
twinkling of an eye an immense sandy mound would
cover them in which they would remain until the next

84 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

hurricane, blowing away the sand, should reveal their
skeletons.

Stas’ head swam, his lungs seemed choked, and the
sand blinded him. But at times it seemed to him that he
heard Nell crying and calling; so he thought only of her.
Taking advantage of the fact that the camels stood in a
close pack and that Idris might not observe him, he deter-
mined to creep over quietly to the girl’s camel, not for
the purpose of escaping, but to give her assistance and
encouragement. But he had barely extended his limbs
from under him and stretched out his hands to grasp the
edge of Nell’s saddle, when the giant hand of Idris grabbed
him. The Sudanese snatched him like a feather, laid him
before him and began to tie him with a palm rope, and
after binding his hands, placed him across the saddle.
Stas pressed his teeth and resisted as well as he could,
but in vain. Having a parched throat and a mouth filled
with sand he could not convince Idris that he desired only
to go to the girl’s assistance and did not want to escape.

After a while, however, feeling that he was suffocating,
he began to shout in a stifled voice:

“Save the little ‘ bint’! Save the little ‘ bint ’!”

But the Arabs preferred to think of their own lives.
The blasts became so terrible that they could not sit on
the camels nor could the camels stand in their places.
The two Bedouins with Chamis and Gebhr leaped to
the ground, in order to hold the animals by cords attached
to the mouthpieces under their lower jaws. Idris, shov-
ing Stas to the rear of the saddle, did the same. The
animals spread out their legs as widely as possible in order
to resist the furious whirlwind, but they lacked strength,
and the caravan, scourged by gravel which cut like
hundreds of whips and the sand which pricked like pins,
began now slowly, then hurriedly, to turn about and

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 85

retreat under the pressure. At times the whirlwind tore
holes under their feet, then again the sand and gravel
bounding from the sides of the camels would form, in
the twinkling of an eye, mounds reaching to their knees
and higher. In this manner hour passed after hour.
The danger became more and more terrible. Idris finally
understood that the only salvation was to remount the
camels and fly with the whirlwind. But this would be |
returning in the direction of Fayiim, where Egyptian
Courts and the gallows were waiting for them.

“Ha! it cannot be helped,” thought Idris. “The hurri-
cane will also stop the pursuit and when it ceases, we will
again proceed southward.”

And he began to shout that they should resume their
seats on the camels.

But at this moment something happened which en-
tirely changed the situation.

Suddenly, the dusky, almost black, clouds of sand were
illumined with a livid light. The darkness then became
still deeper, but at the same time there arose, slumber-
ing on high and awakened by the whirlwind, thunder; it
began to roll between the Arabian and Libyan deserts, —
powerful, threatening, one might say, angry. It seemed
as if from the heavens, mountains and rocks were tumbling
down. The deafening peal intensified, grew, shook the
world, began to roam all over the whole horizon; in
places it burst with a force as terrible as if the shattered
vault of heaven had fallen upon earth and afterwards itagain
rolled with a hollow, continual rumble; again it burst forth,
again broke, it blinded with lightning, and struck with
thunderbolts, descended, rose, and pealed continuously.

1 The author heard in the vicinity of Aden thunder which

lasted without intermission for half an hour. See “Letters from
Africa.”

86 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

The wind subsided as if overawed, and when after
a long time somewhere in the immeasurable distance the
chain-bolt of heaven rattled, a deadly stillness followed
the thunder.

But after a while in that silence the voice of the guide
resounded. :

“God is above the whirlwind and the storm. We are
saved.”

They started. But they were enveloped by a night so
impenetrable that though the camels ran close together,
the men could not see each other and had to shout aloud
every little while in order not to lose one another. From
time to time glaring lightning, livid or red, illuminated
the sandy expanse, but afterwards fell a darkness so thick
as to be almost palpable. Notwithstanding the hope,
which the voice of the guide poured into the hearts of
the Sudanese, uneasiness did not yet leave them, because
they moved blindly, not knowing in truth in which di-
rection they were going;— whether they were moving
around in a circle or were returning northward. The
animals stumbled against each other every little while
and could not run swiftly, and besides they panted
strangely, and so loudly that it seemed to the riders that
the whole desert panted from fear. Finally fell the first
drops of rain, which almost always follows a hurricane,
and at the same time the voice of the guide broke out
amidst the darkness:

cs Khor!”’

They were above a ravine. The camels paused at the

brink; after which they began to step carefully towards
the bottom.

IX

Tue khor was wide, covered on the bottom with stones
among which grew dwarfish, thorny shrubs. A _ high
rock full of crevices and fissures formed its southern
wall. The Arabs discerned all this by the light of quiet
but more and more frequent lightning flashes. Soon
they also discovered in the rocky wall a kind of shallow
cave or, rather, a broad niche, in which people could easily
be harbored and, in case of a great downpour, could
find shelter. The camels also could be comfortably
lodged upon a slight elevation close by the niche. The
Bedouins and two Sudanese removed from them their
burdens and saddles, so that they might rest well, and
Chamis, son of Chadigi, occupied himself in the meantime
with pulling thorny shrubs for a fire. Big single drops
fell continually but the downpour began only when the
party lay down to sleep. At first it was like strings of
water, afterwards ropes, and in the end it seemed as if
whole rivers were flowing from invisible clouds. Such
rains, which occur only once in several years, swell, even
in winter time, the water of the canals and the Nile, and
in Aden fill immense cisterns, without which the city
could not exist at all. Stas never in his life had seen
anything like it. At the bottom of the khor the stream
began to rumble; the entrance to the niche was veiled
as if by a curtain of water; around could be heard only
splashing and spluttering.

88 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

The camels stood on an elevation and the downpour
at most would give them a bath; nevertheless the Arabs
peered out every little while to see if any danger threatened
the animals. To the others it was agreeable to sit in
the cave, safe from danger, by the bright fire of brushwood,
which was not yet soaked. On their faces joy was depicted.
Idris, who immediately after their arrival had untied
Stas’ hands so that he could eat, now turned to him
and smiling contemptuously said:

“The Mahdi is greater than all white sorcerers. He
subdued the hurricane and sent rain.”

Stas did not reply for he was occupied with Nell, who
was barely alive. First he shook the sand from her hair,
afterwards directed old Dinah to unpack the things which
she, in the belief that the children were going to their
parents, brought with her from Fayim. He took a towel,
wet it, and wiped the little girl’s eyes and face with it.
Dinah could not do this as seeing but poorly with one
eye only, she lost her sight almost entirely during the
hurricane and washing her heated eyelids did not bring
her any relief. Nell submitted passively to all of Stas’
efforts; she only gazed at him like an exhausted bird,
and only when he removed her shoes to spill out the
sand and afterwards when he smoothed out the saddle-
cloths did she throw her arms around his neck.

His heart overflowed with great pity. He felt that
he was a guardian, an older brother, and at that time
_ Nell’s only protector, and he felt at the same time that
he loved this little sister immensely, far more than ever
before. He loved her indeed in Port Said, but he regarded
her asa “baby”’; so, for instance, it never even occurred to
him to kiss her hand in bidding her good night. If any
one had suggested such an idea to him he would have

thought that a bachelor, who had finished his thirteenth

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 89

year, could not without derogation to his dignity and
age do anything like that. But, at present, a common
distress awoke in him dormant tenderness; so he kissed
not one but both hands of the little girl.

Lying down, he continued to think of her and deter-
mined to perform some extraordinary deed to snatch her
from captivity. He was prepared for everything, even
for wounds and death; only with this little reservation
secreted in his heart, that the wounds should not be too
painful, and that the death should not be an inevitable
and real death, as in such case he could not witness the
happiness of Nell when liberated. Afterwards he began
to ponder upon the most heroic manner of saving her,
but his thoughts became confused. For a while it seemed
to him that whole clouds of sand were burying him;
afterwards that all the camels were piling on his head, —
and he fell asleep.

The Arabs, exhausted by the battle with the hurri-
cane, after attending to the camels, also fell into a sound
sleep. The fire became extinct and a dusk prevailed in
the niche. Soon the snores of the men resounded, and
from outside came the splash of the downpour and the
roar of the waters dashing over the stones on the bottom
of the khor. In this manner the night passed.

But before dawn Stas was awakened from a heavy
sleep by a feeling of cold. It appeared that water which
accumulated in the fissures on the top of the rock slowly
passed through some cleft in the vault of the cave and
began finally to trickle onto his head. The boy sat up
on the saddle-cloth and for some time struggled with
sleep; he did not realize where he was and what had
happened to him.

After a while, however, consciousness returned to
him.

90 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“Aha!” he thought, “ yesterday there was a hurricane
and we are kidnapped, and this is a cave in which we
sought shelter from the rain.”

And he began to gaze around. At first he observed
with astonishment that the rain had passed away and
that it was not at all dark in the cave, as it was illumi-
nated by the moon which was about to set. In its pale
beams could be seen the whole interior of that wide but
shallow niche. Stas saw distinctly the Arabs lying be-
side each other, and under the other wall of the cave the
white dress of Nell who was sleeping close to Dinah.

And again great tenderness possessed his heart.

“Sleep, Nell — sleep,” he said to himself; “but I do
not sleep, and must save her.”’

After this, glancing at the Arabs, he added in his
soul:

“Ah! I do want to have all these rogues — ”’

Suddenly he trembled.

His gaze fell upon the leather case containing the short
rifle presented to him as a Christmas gift, and the car-
tridge boxes lying between him and Chamis, so near that
it would suffice for him to stretch out his hand.

And his heart began to beat like a hammer. If he
could secure the rifle and boxes he would certainly be the
master of the situation. It would be enough in that
case to slip noiselessly out of the niche, hide about fifty
paces away, among the rocks, and from there watch the
exit of the Sudanese and Bedouins. He thought that if
they awakened and observed his absence they would
rush out of the cave together but at that time he could
with two bullets shoot down the first two and, before the
others could reach him, the rifle could be reloaded. Chamis
would remain but he could take care of him.

Here he pictured to himself four corpses lying in a pool

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 91

of blood, and fright and horror seized his breast. To
kill four men! Indeed they were knaves, but even so it
was a horrifying affair. He recollected that at one time
he saw a laborer — a fellah — killed by the crank of a
steam dredge, and what a horrible impression his mortal
remains, quivering in a red puddle, made upon him!
He shuddered at the recollection. And now four would
be necessary! four! The sin and the horror! No, no, he
was incapable of that.

He began to struggle with his thoughts. For himself,
he would not do that — No! But«Nell was concerned;
her protection, her salvation, and her life were involved,
for she could not endure all this, and certainly would
die either on the road or among the wild and brutalized
hordes of dervishes. What meant the blood of such
wretches beside the life of Nell, and could any one in such
a situation hesitate?

“For Nell! For Nell!”

But suddenly a thought flew like a whirlwind through
Stas’ mind and caused the hair to rise on his head.
What would happen if any one of the outlaws placed a
knife at Nell’s breast, and announced that he would
murder her if he — Stas — did not surrender and return
the rifle to them.

“Then,” answered the boy to himself, “I should sur-
render at once.”

And with a realization of his helplessness he again
flung himself impotently upon the saddle-cloth.

The moon now peered obliquely through the opening
of the cave and it became less dark. The Arabs snored
continually. Some time passed and a new idea began to
dawn in Stas’ head.

If, slipping out with the weapon and hiding among
the rocks, he should kill not the men but shoot the camels?

92 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

It would be too bad and a sad ending for the innocent
animals; — that is true, but what was to be done? Why,
people kill animals not only to save life but for broth and
roast meat. Now it was a certainty that if he succeeded
in killing four, and better still five camels, further travel
would be impossible. No one in the caravan would dare
to go to the villages near the banks to purchase new
camels. And in such a case Stas, in the name of his
father, would promise the men immunity from punish-
ment and even a pecuniary reward and — nothing else
would remain to do but to return.

Yes, but if they should not give him time to make
such a promise and should kill him in the first transports
of rage?

They must give him time and hear him for he would
hold the rifle in his hand; he would be able to hold them
at bay until he stated everything. When he had done,
they would understand that their only salvation would
be to surrender. Then he would be in command of the
caravan and lead it directly to Bahr Yfisuf and the Nile.
To be sure, at present they are quite a distance from it,
perhaps one or two days’ journey, as the Arabs through
caution had turned considerably into the interior of the
desert. But that did not matter; there would remain,
of course, a few camels and on one of them Nell would
ride.

Stas began to gaze attentively at the Arabs. They
slept soundly, as people exceedingly tired do, but as the
night was waning, they might soon awaken. It was
necessary to act at once. The taking of the cartridge
boxes did not present any difficulties as they lay close
by. A more difficult matter was to get the rifle, which
Chamis had placed at his further side. Stas hoped that he
would succeed in purloining it, but he decided to draw it

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 93

out of the case and put the stock and the barrels together
when he should be about fifty paces from the cave, as he
feared that the clank of the iron against iron would wake
the sleepers.

The moment arrived. The boy bent like an arch over
Chamis and, seizing the case by the handle, began to
transfer it to his side. His heart and pulse beat heavily,
his eyes grew dim, his breathing became rapid, but he
shut his teeth and tried to control his emotions. Never-
theless when the straps of the case creaked lightly, drops
of cold perspiration stood on his forehead. That second
seemed to him an age. But Chamis did not even stir.
The case described an arch over him and rested silently
beside the box with cartridges.

Stas breathed freely. One-half of the work was done.
Now it was necessary to slip out of the cave noiselessly
and run about fifty paces; afterwards to hide in a fissure,
open the case, put the rifle together, load it, and fill his
pockets with cartridges. The caravan then would be
actually at his mercy.

Stas’ black silhouette was outlined on the brighter
background of the cave’s entrance. A second more and
he would be on the outside, and would hide in the rocky
fissure. And then, even though one of the outlaws should
wake, before he realized what had happened and before
he aroused the others — it would be too late. The boy,
from fear of knocking down some stone, of which a large
number lay at the threshold of the niche, shoved out one
foot and began to seek firm ground with his step.

And already his head leaned out of the opening and he
was about to slip out wholly when suddenly something
happened which turned the blood in his veins to ice.

Amid the profound stillness pealed like a thunder-
bolt the joyous bark of Saba; it filled the whole ravine

94. IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

and awoke the echoes reposing in it. The Arabs as one
man were startled from their sleep, and the first object
which struck their eyes was the sight of Stas with the
case in one hand and the cartridge box in the other.

Ah, Saba! what have you done?

xX

WitH cries of horror, all in a moment rushed at Stas; in
the twinkling of an eye they wrested the rifle and car-
tridges from him and threw him on the ground, tied his
hands and feet, striking and kicking him all the time,
until finally Idris, from fear of the boy’s life, drove them
off. Afterwards they began to converse in disjointed
words, as people do over whom had impended a terrible
danger and whom only an accident had saved.

“That is Satan incarnate,” exclaimed Idris, with face
pallid with fright and emotion.

“He would have shot us like wild geese for food,”
added Gebhr.

“Ah, if it was not for that dog.”

“God sent him.”

“And you wanted to kill him?” said Chamis.

“From this time no one shall touch him.”

“He shall always have bones and water.”

“Allah! Allah!” repeated Idris, not being able to
compose himself. “Death was upon us. Ugh!”

And they began to stare at Stas lying there, with hatred
but with a certain wonder that one small boy might have
been the cause of their calamity and destruction.

“By the prophet!” spoke out one of the Bedouins, “it
is necessary to prevent this son of Iblis from twisting our
necks. We are taking a viper to the Mahdi. What do
you intend to do with him?”

96 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“We must cut off his right hand!”’ exclaimed Gebhr.

The Bedouins did not answer, but Idris would not con- |
sent to this proposition. It occurred to him that if the
pursuers should capture them, a more terrible punish-
ment would be meted to them for the mutilation of the
boy. Finally, who could guarantee that Stas would not
die after such an operation? In such a case for the ex-
change of Fatma and her children only Nell would re-
main. So when Gebhr pulled out his knife with the in-
tention of executing his threat, Idris seized him by the
wrist and held it.

“No!” he said. “It would be a disgrace for five of the
Mahdi’s warriors to fear one Christian whelp so much as
to cut off his fist; we will bind him for the night, and for
that which he wanted to do, he shall receive ten lashes
of the courbash.”

Gebhr was ready to execute the sentence at once but
Idris again pushed him away and ordered the flogging to
be done by one of the Bedouins, to whom he whispered
not to hit very hard. As Chamis, perhaps out of regard
for his former service with the engineers or perhaps from
some other reason, did not want to mix in the matter,
the other Bedouin turned Stas over with his back up and
the punishment was about to take place, when at that mo-
ment an unexpected obstacle came.

At the opening of the niche Nell appeared with Saba.

Occupied with her pet, who, dashing into the cave,
threw himself at once at her little feet, she had heard the
shouts of the Arabs, but, as in Egypt Arabs as well as
Bedouins yell on every occasion as if they are about to
annihilate each other, she did not pay any attention to
them. Not until she called Stas and received no reply
from him, did she go out to see whether he was not already
seated on the camels. With terror she saw in the first

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 97

luster of the morning Stas lying on the ground and above
him a Bedouin with a courbash in his hand. At the sight
of this she screamed with all her strength and stamped
with her little feet, and when the Bedouin, not paying
any attention to this, aimed the first blow, she flung her-
self forward and covered the boy with her body.

The Bedouin hesitated, as he did not have an order
to strike the little girl, and in the meantime her voice
resounded full of despair and horror:

“Saba! Saba!’

And Saba understood what was the matter and in one
leap was in the niche. The hair bristled on his neck and
back, his eyes flamed redly, in his breast and powerful
throat there was a rumble as if of thunder.

And afterwards, the lips of his wrinkled jaws rose
slowly upward and the teeth as well as the white fangs,
an inch long, appeared as far as the bloody gums. The
giant mastiff now began to turn his head to the right and to
the left as if he wanted to display well his terrible equip-
ment to the Sudanese and Bedouins and tell them:

“Look! here is something with which I shall defend
the children!”’

They, on the other hand, retreated hurriedly for they
knew in the first place that Saba had saved their lives
and again that it was a clear thing that whoever approached
Nell at that moment would have the fangs of the in-
furiated mastiff sunk at once in his throat. So they
stood irresolute, staring with an uncertain gaze and as
if asking one another what in the present situation had
better be done.

Their hesitation continued so long that Nell had suf-
ficient time to summon old Dinah and order her to cut
Stas’ bonds. Then the boy, placing his hand on Saba’s
head, turned to his assailants:

98 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“T did not want to kill you — only the camels,” he
said through his set teeth.

But this information so startled the Arabs that they
undoubtedly would have again rushed at Stas were it
not for Saba’s flaming eyes and bristling hair. Gebhr
even started to dash towards him, but one hollow growl
riveted him to the spot.

A moment of silence followed, after which Idris’ loud
voice resounded:

“To the road! To the road!”

XI

A pay passed, a night, and yet another day and they
drove constantly southward, halting only for a_ brief
time in the khors in order not to fatigue the camels too
much, to water and feed them, and also to divide their
provisions and water. From fear of the pursuit they
turned yet farther to the west, for they did not have to
concern themselves about water for some time. The
downpour had lasted indeed not more than seven hours,
but it was as tremendous as if a cloud-burst had occurred
on the desert. Idris and Gebhr as well as the Bedouins
knew that on the beds of the khors and in those places
where the rocks formed natural cavities and wells they
would, for a few days, find enough water to suffice not
only for their and the camels’ immediate wants but even
for replenishing their supplies. After the great rain, as
usual, splendid weather followed. The sky was cloud-
less, and the air so transparent that the view reached
over an immeasurable distance. At night the heaven,
studded with stars, twinkled and sparkled as if with
thousands of diamonds. From the desert sands came
a refreshing coolness.

The camel-humps already grew smaller but the ani-
mals, being well-fed, were, according to the Arabian expres-
sion, “harde,” that is, they were unimpaired in strength
and ran so willingly that the caravan advanced but little
slower than on the first day after their departure from

100 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Gharak el-Sultani. Stas with astonishment observed
that in some of the khors, in rocky fissures protected
from rain, were supplies of durra and dates. He in-
ferred from this that, before their abduction, certain
preparations were made and everything was pre-arranged
between Fatma, Idris, and Gebhr on one side and the
Bedouins on the other. It was also easy to surmise that
both the Bedouins were Mahdist adherents and believers,
who wanted to join their leader, and for that reason were
easily drawn into the plot by the Sudanese. In the neigh-
borhood of Fayim and around Gharak el-Sultani there
were quite a number of Bedouins who with their children
and camels led a migratory life on the desert and came to
Medinet and the railway stations for gain.

Stas, however, had never seen these two before, and
they also could not have been in Medinet, for it appeared
they did not know Saba.

The idea of attempting to bribe them occurred to the
boy, but recollecting their shouts, full of fervor, whenever
the name of the Mahdi was mentioned by them, he deemed
this an impossibility. Nevertheless, he did not submit
passively to the events, for in that boyish soul there was
imbedded a really astonishing energy, which was inflamed
by the past failures.

“Everything which I have undertaken,” he solilo-
quized, “ended in my getting a whipping. But even
if they flog me with that courbash every day and even
kill me, I will not stop thinking of rescuing Nell and
myself from the hands of these villains. If the pursuers
capture them, so much the better. I, however, will act
as if I did not expect them.” And at the recollection
of what he had met at the thought of those treacherous
and cruel people who, after snatching away the rifle,

had belabored him with fists and kicked him, his heart

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 101

rebelled and rancor grew. He felt not only vanquished
but humiliated by them in his pride as a white man.
Above all, however, he felt Nell’s wrong and this feeling,
with the bitterness which intensified within him after
the last failure, changed into an inexozahle hatred of
both Sudanese. He had often heard, indeed, from, his
father that hatred blinds, and that only, sueh, sculs yield:
to it as are incapable of anything better; but for the
time being he could not subdue it within him, and did
not know how to conceal it.

He did not know to what extent Idris had observed
it and had begun to get uneasy, understanding that, in
case the pursuing party should capture them, he could
not depend upon the boy’s intercession. Idris was always
ready for the most audacious deed, but as a man not
deprived of reason, he thought that it was necessary to
provide for everything and in case of misfortune to leave
some gate of salvation open. For this reason, after the
last occurrence he wanted in some manner to conciliate
Stas and, with this object, at the first stop, he began
the following conversation with him.

“After what you wanted to do,” he said, “I had to
punish you as otherwise they would have killed you, but
I ordered the Bedouin not to strike you hard.”

And when he received no reply, he, after a while, con-
tinued thus:

“Listen! you yourself have said that the white people
always keep their oath. So if you will swear by your
God and by the head of that little ‘bint’ that you will do
nothing against us, then I will not order you to be bound
for the night.”

Stas did not answer a single word to this and only
from the glitter of his eyes did Idris perceive that he
spoke in vain.

102 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Nevertheless, notwithstanding the urging of Gebhr
and the Bedouins, he did not order him to be bound for
the night, and when Gebhr did not cease his importunities,
_ he replied with anger:

. “Tusteail of going to sleep, you will to-night stand on
| guard... I have decided that from this time one of us shall

a watch during the sleep of the others.”

And in reality a change of guards was introduced
permanently from that day. This rendered more difficult
and completely frustrated all plans of Stas to whom
every sentinel paid watchful attention.

But on the other hand the children were left in greater
freedom so that they could approach each other and
converse without hindrance. Immediately after the first
stop Stas sat close to Nell for he was anxious to thank her
for her aid.

But though he felt great gratitude to her he did not
know how to express himself, either in a lofty style or
tenderly; so he merely began to shake both of her little
hands.

“Nell!” he said, “you are very good and I thank you;
and besides this I frankly say that you acted like a person
of at least thirteen years.”

On Stas’ lips words like these were the highest praise;
so the heart of the little woman was consumed with joy
and pride. It seemed to her at that moment that noth-
ing was impossible. “Wait till I grow up, then they
will see!” she replied, throwing a belligerent glance in
the direction of the Sudanese.

But as she did not understand the cause of the trouble
and why all the Arabs rushed at Stas, the boy told her
how he had determined to purloin the rifle, kill the camels,
and force all to return to the river.

“Tf I had succeeded,” he said, “we would now be free.”’

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 103

“But they awoke?” asked the little girl with palpitat-
ing heart.

“They did. That was caused by Saba, who came run-
ning toward me, barking loud enough to awaken the dead.”

Then her indignation was directed against Saba.

“Nasty Saba! nasty! For this when he comes running
up to me:I won’t speak a word to him and will tell him
that he is horrid.”

At this Stas, though he was not in a laughing mood,
laughed and asked:

“How will you be able not to say a word to him and
at the same time tell him he is horrid?”

Nell’s eyebrows rose and her countenance reflected
embarrassment, after which she said:

“He will know that from my looks.”

“Perhaps. But he is not to blame, for he could not
know what was happening. Remember also that after-
wards he came to our rescue.”

This recollection placated Nell’s anger a little. She
did not, however, want to grant pardon to the culprit
at once.

“That is very well,” she said, “but a real gentleman
ought not to bark on greeting.”

Stas burst out laughing again.

“Neither does a real gentleman bark on leave-taking
unless he is a dog, and Saba is one.”

But after a while sorrow dimmed the boy’s eyes; he
sighed once, then again; after which he rose from the
stone on which they sat and said:

“The worst is that I could not free you.”

And Nell raised herself on her little toes and threw
her arms around his neck. She wanted to cheer him; she
wanted, with her little nose close to his face, to whisper
her gratitude, but, as she could not find appropriate words,

104 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

she only squeezed his neck yet more tightly and kissed
his ear. In the meantime Saba, always late — not so
much because he was unable to keep pace with the camels,
but because he hunted for jackals on the way, or drove
away vultures perched on the crests of rocks with his
barking — came rushing up, making his customary noise.
The children at the sight of him forgot about everything,
and notwithstanding their hard situation began their
usual caresses and play until they were interrupted by
the Arabs. Chamis gave the dog food and water, after
which all mounted the camels and started with the
greatest speed southward.

XII

Ir was their longest journey, for they rode with small
interruption for eighteen hours. Only real saddle-camels,
having a good supply of water in their stomachs, could
endure such a drive. Idris did not spare them, for
he really feared the pursuit. He understood that it
must have started long ago, and he assumed that both
engineers would be at its head and would not lose any
time. Danger threatened from the direction of the river,
for it was certain that immediately after the abduction
telegraphic orders were despatched to all settlements on
the banks directing the sheiks to start expeditions into
the interior of the desert on both sides of the Nile, and
to detain all parties riding southward. Chamis assured
the others that the Government and engineers must have
offered a large reward for their capture and that in con-
sequence of this the desert was undoubtedly swarming
with searching parties. The only course to pursue would
be to turn as far as possible to the west; but on the west
lay the great oasis of Kharga, to which despatches also
could reach, and besides, if they rode too far west they
would lack water after a few days, and death from thirst
would await them.

And the question of food became a vital one. The
Bedouins in the course of the two weeks preceding the
abduction of the children had placed in hiding-places,
supplies of durra, biscuits, and dates, but only for a dis-

106 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

tance of four days’ journey from Medinet. Idris, with
fear, thought that when provisions should be lacking it
would be imperatively necessary to send men to pur-
chase supplies at the villages on the river banks, and then
these men, in view of the aroused vigilance and reward
offered for the capture of the fugitives, might easily fall
into the hands of the local sheiks, — and betray the whole
caravan. The situation was indeed difficult, almost
desperate, and Idris each day perceived more plainly upon
what an insane undertaking he had ventured.

“Tf we could only pass Assuan! If we could only pass
Assuan!”’ he said to himself with alarm and despair in
his soul. He did not indeed believe Chamis who claimed
that the Mahdi’s warriors had already reached Assuan,
as Stas denied this.

Idris long since perceived that the white “uled” knew
more than all of them. But he supposed that beyond the
first cataract, where the people were wilder and less sus-
ceptible to the influences of Englishmen and the Egyp-
tian Government, he would find more adherents of the
prophet, who in a case of emergency would give them
succor, and would furnish food and camels. But it was,
as the Bedouins reckoned, about five days’ journey to
Assuan over a road which became more and more deso-
late, and every stop visibly diminished their supplies for
man and beast.

Fortunately they could urge the camels and drive with
the greatest speed, for the heat did not exhaust their
strength. During daytime, at the noon hour, the sun,
indeed, scorched strongly but the air was continually in-
vigorating and the nights so cool that Stas, with the
consent of Idris, changed his seat to Nell’s camel, desiring
to watch over her and protect her from catching cold.

But his fears were vain, as Dinah, whose eyes, or rather,

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 107

eye, improved considerably, watched with great solici-
tude over her little lady. The boy was even surprised
that the little one’s health thus far did not suffer any im-
pairment and that she bore the journey, with ever-
decreasing stops, as well as himself. Grief, fear, and the
tears which she shed from longing for her papa evidently
did not harm her much. Perhaps her slightly emaciated
and bright little countenance was tanned by the wind,
but in the later days of the journey she felt far less fatigued
than at the beginning. It is true that Idris gave her the
easiest carrying camel and had made an excellent saddle
so that she could sleep in it lying down; nevertheless the
desert air, which she breathed day and night, mainly
gave her strength to endure the hardships and irregular
hours.

Stas not only watched over her but intentionally sur-
rounded her with a worship which, notwithstanding his
immense attachment to his little sister, he did not at
all feel for her. He observed, however, that this affected
the Arabs and that they involuntarily were fortified in
the conviction that they were bearing something of
unheard-of value, some exceptionally important female
captive, with whom it was necessary to act with the
greatest possible care. Idris had been accustomed to this
while at Medinet; so now all treated her well. They did
not spare water and dates for her. The cruel Gebhr would
not now have dared to raise his hand against her. Perhaps
the extraordinarily fine stature of the little girl contributed
to this, and also that there was in her something of the na-
ture of a flower and of a bird, and this charm even the sav-
age and undeveloped souls of the Arabs could not resist.
Often also, when at a resting place she stood by the fire
fed by the roses of Jericho or thorns, rosy from the flame
and silvery in the moonlight, the SudAnese as well as the

108 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Bedouins could not tear their eyes from her, smacking
their lips from admiration, according to their habit, and
murmuring:

“Allah! Mashallah! Bismillah!”

The second day at noon after that long rest, Stas and
Nell who rode this time on the same camel, had a moment
of joyful emotion. Immediately after sunrise a light and
transparent mist rose over the desert, but it soon fell.
Afterwards when the sun ascended higher, the heat be-
came greater than during the previous days. At mo-
ments when the camels halted there could not be felt the
slightest breeze, so that the air as well as the sands seemed
to slumber in the warmth, in the light, and in the still-
ness. The caravan had just ridden upon a great monot-
onous level ground, unbroken by khors, when suddenly
a wonderful spectacle presented itself to the eyes of the
children. Groups of slender palms and pepper trees,
plantations of mandarins, white houses, a small mosque
with projecting minaret, and, lower, walls surrounding
gardens, all these appeared with such distinctness and at
distance so close that one might assume that after the
lapse of half an hour the caravan would be amid the trees
of the oasis.

“What is this?” exclaimed Stas. “Nell, Nell! Look!”

Nell rose, and for a time was silent with astonishment,
but after a while began to ery with joy:

“Medinet! to papa! to papa!”

And Stas turned pale from emotion.

“Truly — Perhaps that is Kharga— But no! That
is Medinet perhaps —I recognize the minaret and even
see the windmills above the wells — ”

In fact, in the distance the highly elevated American
windmills resembling great white stars, actually glis-
tened. On the verdant background of the trees they

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 109

could be seen so perfectly that Stas’ keen sight could dis-
tinguish the borders of the vanes painted red.

“That is Medinet! —”’

Stas knew from books and narratives that there were
on the desert phantasms known as “fata morgana”’ and
that sometimes travelers happen to see oases, cities, tufts
of trees and lakes, which are nothing more than an
illusion, a play of light, and a reflection of real distant
objects. But this time the phenomenon was so distinct,
so well-nigh palpable that he could not doubt that he saw
the real Medinet. There was the turret upon the Mudir’s
house, there the circular balcony near the summit of the
minaret from which the muezzin called to prayers, there
that familiar group of trees, and particularly those wind-
mills. No, —that must be the reality. It occurred to the
boy that the Sudanese, reflecting upon their situation,
had come to the conclusion that they could not escape
and, without saying anything to him, had turned back
to Fayim. But their calmness suggested to him the first
doubts. If that really was Fayiim, would they gaze
upon it so indifferently? They, of course, saw the phe-
nomenon and pointed it out to each other with their
fingers, but on their faces could not be seen the least
perplexity or emotion. Stas gazed yet once more and
perhaps this indifference of the Arabs caused the picture
to seem fainter to him. He also thought that, if in truth
they were returning, the caravan would be grouped to-
gether, and the men, though only from fear, would ride
in a body. But, in the meanwhile, the Bedouins, who,
by Idris’ order, for the past few days drove considerably
in advance, could not be seen at all; while Chamis, riding
as a rear guard, appeared at a distance not greater than
the vulture lying on the ground.

“Fata Morgana,” said Stas to himself.

110 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

In the meantime Idris approached him and shouted:

“Heigh! Speed your camel! You see Medinet!”

He evidently spoke jokingly and there was so much
spite in his voice that the last hope that the real Medinet
was before him vanished in the boy’s heart.

And with sorrow in his heart he turned to Nell to dispel
her delusion, when unexpectedly an incident occurred
which drew the attention of all in another direction.

At first a Bedouin appeared, running towards them at
full speed and brandishing from afar a long Arabian rifle
which no one in the caravan possessed before that time.
Reaching Idris, he exchanged a few hurried words with
him, after which the caravan turned precipitately into
the interior of the desert. But, after a time, the other
Bedouin appeared leading by a rope a fat she-camel,
with a saddle on its hump and leather bags hanging on
its sides. A short conversation commenced, of which
Stas could not catch a word. The caravan in full speed
made for the west. It halted only when they chanced
upon a narrow khor full of rocks scattered in wild dis-
order, and of fissures and caverns. One of these was so
spacious that the Sudaénese hid the people and camels
in it. Stas, although he conjectured more or less what had
happened, lay beside Idris and pretended to sleep, hoping
that the Arabs, who thus far had exchanged but a few
words about the occurrence, would now begin to speak
about it. In fact, his hope was not disappointed, for
immediately after pouring out fodder for the camels, the
Bedouins and the Sudanese with Chamis sat down for a
consultation.

“Henceforth we can ride only in the night; in the
daytime we will have to hide!” spoke out the one-eyed
Bedouin. “There will be many khors now and in each
one of them we will find a safe hiding-place.”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 111

“ Are you sure that he was a sentinel?” asked Idris.

“ Allah! We spoke with him. Luckily there was only one.
He stood hidden by a rock, so that we could not see him,
but we heard from a distance the cry of his camel. Then
we slackened our speed and rode up so quietly that he
saw us only when we were a few paces away. He became
very frightened and wanted to aim his rifle at us. If he
had fired, though he might not have killed any of us, the
other sentinels would have heard the shot; so, as hur-
riedly as possible, I yelled to him: ‘Halt! we are pursuing
men who kidnapped two white children, and soon the
whole pursuit will be here.’ The boy was young and
foolish, so he believed us; only he ordered us to swear on
the Koran that such was the case. We got off our camels
and swore — ”’

“The Mahdi will absolve us — ”’

“And bless you,” said Idris. “Speak! what did you do
afterwards?”

“Now,” continued the Bedouin, “when we swore, I
said to the boy: ‘But who can vouch that you yourself do
not belong to the outlaws who are running away with
the white children, and whether they did not leave you
here to hold back the pursuit?’ And I ordered him also
to take an oath. To this he assented and this caused him
to believe us all the more. We began to ask him whether
any orders had come over the copper wire to the sheiks
and whether a pursuit was organized. He replied: ‘ Yes!
and told us that a great reward was offered, and that all
khors at a two days’ distance from the river were guarded,
and that the great ‘baburs’ (steamers), with English-
men and troops are continually floating over the river.”’

“Neither the ‘baburs’ nor the troops can avail against
the might of Allah and the prophet — ”

“May it be as you say!”

112 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“Tell us how you finished with the boy?”’

The one-eyed Bedouin pointed at his companion.

“ Abu-Anga,” he said, “asked him whether there was
not another sentinel near-by, and the sentinel replied that
there was not; then Abu-Anga thrust his knife into the
sentinel’s throat so suddenly that he did not utter a word.
We threw him into a deep cleft and covered him with
stones and thorns. In the village they will think that
he ran away to the Mahdi, for he told us that this does
happen.”

“May God bless those who run away as he blessed you,”
answered Idris.

“Yes! He did bless us,” retorted Abu-Anga, “for we
now know that we will have to keep at a three days’ dis-
tance from the river, and besides we captured a rifle
which we needed and a milch she-camel.”’

“The gourds,’ added the one-eyed, “are filled with
water and there is considerable millet in the sacks; but
we found but little powder.”

“Chamis is carrying a few hundred cartridges for the
white boy’s rifle, from which we cannot shoot. Powder is
always the same and can be used in ours.”

Saying this, Idris nevertheless pondered, and heavy
anxiety was reflected in his dark face, for he understood
that when once a corpse had fallen to the ground, Stas’
intercession would not secure immunity for them from
trial and punishment, if they should fall into the hands
of the Egyptian Government.

Stas listened with palpitating heart and strained at-
tention. In that conversation there were some comfort-
ing things, especially that a pursuit was organized, that
a reward was offered, and that the sheiks of the tribes on
the river banks had received orders to detain caravans
going southward. The boy was comforted also by the

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 113

intelligence about steamers filled with English troops
plying on the upper river. The dervishes of the Mahdi
might cope with the Egyptian army and even defeat it,
but it was an entirely different matter with English people,
and Stas did not doubt for a moment that the first battle
would result in the total rout of the savage multitude.
So, with comfort in his soul, he soliloquized thus: “ Even
though they wish to bring us to the Mahdi, it may happen
that before we reach his camp there will not be any Mahdi
or his dervishes.” But this solace was embittered by
the thought that in such case there awaited them whole
weeks of travel, which in the end must exhaust Nell’s
strength, and during all this time they would be forced
to remain in the company of knaves and murderers. At
the recollection of that young Arab, whom the Bedouins
had butchered like a lamb, fear and sorrow beset Stas.
He decided not to speak of it to Nell in order not to
frighten her and augment the sorrow she felt after the
disappearance of the illusory picture of the oasis of
Fayfim and the city of Medinet. He saw before their
arrival at the ravine that tears were involuntarily surging
to her eyes; therefore, when he had learned everything
which he wished to know from the Bedouins’ narratives,
he pretended to awake and walked towards her. She
sat in a corner near Dinah, eating dates, moistened a
little with her tears. But seeing Stas, she recollected
that not long before he declared that her conduct was
worthy of a person of at least thirteen years; so, not
desiring to appear again as a child, she bit the kernel
of a date with the full strength of her little teeth, so as
to suppress her sobs.

“Nell,” said the boy, “ Medinet — that was an illusion,
but I know for a certainty that we are being pursued;
so don’t grieve, and don’t cry.”

114 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

At this the little girl raised towards him her tearful
pupils and replied in a broken voice:

“No, Stas —I do not want to cry — only my eyes —
perspire so.”

But at that moment her chin began to quiver; from
under her closed eyelashes big tears gushed and she wept
in earnest.

However, as she was ashamed of her tears and expected
a rebuke for them from Stas, a little from shame and a
little from fear she hid her head on his bosom, wetting
his clothes copiously.

But he at once consoled her.

“Nell, don’t be a fountain. You saw that they took
away from some Arab a rifle and a she-camel. Do you
know what that means? It means that the desert is full
of soldiers. Once these wretches succeeded in trapping
a sentinel, but the next time they themselves will get
caught. A large number of steamboats are plying over
the Nile also— Why, of course, Nell, we will return. We
will return, and in a steamer to boot. Don’t be afraid.”

And he would have comforted her further in this man-
ner, were not his attention attracted by a strange sound
coming from the outside, from the sand-drifts, which
the hurricane blew onto the bottom of the ravine. It
was something resembling the thin, metallic notes of a
reed pipe. Stas broke off the conversation and began
to listen. After a while these very thin and mournful
sounds came from many sides simultaneously. Through
the boy’s mind the thought flashed that these might be
Arabian guards surrounding the ravine and summoning
aid with whistles. His heart began to beat. He glanced
once and again at the Sudanese, hoping that he would
behold consternation on their faces; but no! Idris,
Gebhr and the two Bedouins calmly chewed biscuits, only

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 115

Chamis appeared a little surprised. The sounds con-
tinued. After a while Idris rose and looked out of the
cavern; returning, he stopped near the children, and said:

“The sands are beginning to sing.”’

Stas’ curiosity was so aroused that he forgot that he
had determined not to speak to Idris any more and asked:

“Sands? What does it mean?”

“Tt happens thus, and means that for a long time there
will be no rain. But the heat will not distress us, since
as far as Assuan we will ride only during the night.”

And no more could be learned from him. Stas and Nell
listened long to these peculiar sounds which continued
until the sun descended in the west, after which night
fell and the caravan started on its further journey.

XIII

In the daytime they hid in places concealed and difficult
of access, amid rocks and chasms, and during the night
they hurried, without respite, until they passed the First
Cataract. When finally the Bedouins discerned from
the situation and form of the khors that Assuan was
behind them, a great burden fell off Idris’ breast. As
they suffered already from want of water they drew
nearer to the river a half day’s distance. There Idris,
concealing the caravan, sent all the camels with the Bed-
ouins to the Nile in order to water them well and for a
longer time. Beyond Assuan the fertile belt along the
river was narrower. In some places the desert reached
the river; the villages lay at a considerable distance
from each other. The Bedouins, therefore, returned
successfully, unseen by any one, with a considerable
supply of water. It was necessary now to think of pro-
visions. As the animals had been fed sparingly during
the past week they grew lean; their necks lengthened,
their. humps sank, and their legs became weak. The
durra and the supplies for the people, with the greatest
stint, would suffice for two days more. Idris thought,
however, that they might, if not during daytime then
at night, approach the pastures on the river banks and
perhaps buy biscuits and dates in some village. Saba
already was given nothing at all to eat or drink, and
the children hid leavings of food for him, but he somehow

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 117

managed to take care of himself and came running to the
stopping places with bleeding jaws and marks of bites
on his neck and breast. Whether the victim of these
fights was a jackal, or a hyena, or perhaps a desert fox
or a gazelle no one knew; it was enough that there were
no signs of great hunger on him. At times also his black
lips were moist as if he drank. The Bedouins surmised
that he must have dug deep holes at the bottom of the
ravines, and in this manner reached water which he
scented under the ground. In this manner travelers
who get lost dig the bottoms of chasms and, if they do
not often find water, they almost always reach damp
sand and, sucking it, cheat in this way the pangs of thirst.
In Saba, however, considerable changes took place. He
still had a powerful breast and neck, but his sides were
sunken, through which he appeared taller. In his eyes,
about the reddened whites, there was now something
savage and threatening. To Nell and to Stas he was
as attached as previously and permitted them to do with
him whatever they pleased. He still at times wagged
his tail at Chamis, but he growled at the Bedouins and
Sudanese or snapped with his terrible teeth, which at
such times clashed against each other like steel nails.
Idris and Gebhr plainly began to fear and hate him to
the extent that they would have killed him with the
captured rifle, were it not that they desired to bring this
extraordinary animal to Smain, and were it not also that
they had already passed Assuan.

They had passed Assuan! Stas thought of this con-
tinually, and doubt that the pursuit would ever overtake
them stole gradually into his soul. He knew, indeed, that
not only Egypt proper, which ends at Wadi Halfa, that
is, at the Second Cataract, but the whole of Nubia was
up to that time in the hands of the Egyptian Government,

118 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

but he also understood that beyond Assuan and particu-
larly Wadi Halfa the pursuit would be more difficult
and the commands of the Government would be executed
carelessly. His only hope was that his father with Mr.
Rawlinson, after making arrangements for the pursuit
from Fayfim, would go to Wadi Halfa by steamer, and
there securing troops of the camel-corps, would endeavor
to intercept the caravan from the south. The boy reasoned
that if he were in their place he would do just this, and for
that reason he assumed that his supposition was very
probable.

He did not, however, abandon the thought of a rescue
on his own account. The Sudénese wanted to have powder
for the captured rifle and with this object decided to dis-
join a score of the rifle cartridges, so he told them that
he alone was able to do that, and that if any one of them
should undertake the task unskilfully, the cartridge
would explode in his fingers and tear off his hands.
Idris, fearing English inventions and unknown things
generally, determined finally to entrust the boy with this
undertaking. Stas went at it willingly, hoping in the
first place that the powerful English powder at the first
shot would burst the old Arabian rifle to pieces, and,
again, that he might be able to hide a few cartridges.
In fact, he succeeded more easily than he expected. Ap-
parently they watched him at the work, but the Arabs
began at once to talk among themselves and soon they were
more occupied with their conversation than with their
supervision. Finally this loquacity and inbred careless-
ness permitted Stas to conceal in his bosom seven car-
tridges. Now all that was necessary was to secure the
rifle.

The boy judged that beyond WAdi Halfa, the Second
Cataract, this would not be a very difficult matter as he

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 119

foresaw that as they drew nearer to their destination
the Arabs’ vigilance would relax. The thought that he
would have to kill the Sudanese, the Bedouins, and even
Chamis, always caused him to shudder, but after the
murder which the Bedouins had committed, he did not
have any scruples. He said to himself that the defense,
liberty, and life of Nell were involved, and in view of this
the lives of his adversaries did not deserve any considera-
tion, especially if they did not surrender and it came to
a fight.

But he was anxious about the short rifle. Stas resolved
to secure it by stratagem, whenever the opportunity pre-
sented itself, and not to wait until they reached Wadi
Halfa, but perform the deed as soon as possible.

Accordingly he did not wait.

Two days had elapsed since they passed Assuan, and
Idris finally at the dawn of the third day was forced to
despatch the Bedouins for provisions, which were totally
lacking. In view of the diminished number of adversaries
Stas said to himself: “Now or never!” and immediately
turned to the Sudanese with the following question:

“Tdris, do you know that the country which begins
not far beyond Wadi Halfa is really Nubia?”

“T know. I was fifteen years old and Gebhr eight,
when my father took us from the Sudan to Fayiim, and I
remember that we rode at that time on camels over the
whole of Nubia. But this country belongs still to the
Turks (Egyptians).”

“Yes. The Mahdi is only before Khartim and you
see how foolishly Chamis chattered when he told you
that the army of dervishes reached as far as Assuan.
However, I shall ask you something else. Now I have
read that in Nubia there are many wild animals and
many brigands who do not serve any one and who attack

120 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

alike the Egyptians and the faithful Mahdists. With
what will you defend yourself, if wild animals or brigands
attack you?”’

Stas purposely exaggerated in speaking of wild animals,
but, on the other hand, highway robberies in Nubia,
from the time of the war, occurred quite frequently,
particularly in the southern part of the country bordering
upon the Sudan.

Idris pondered for a while over the question, which
surprised him, as heretofore he had not thought of these
new dangers, and replied:

“We have knives and a rifle.”

“Such a rifle is good for nothing.”

“T know. Yours is better, but we do not know how
to shoot from it, and we will not place it in your hands.”

“Even unloaded?”

“Yes, for it may be bewitched.”

Stas shrugged his shoulders.

“Tdris, if Gebhr said that, I would not be surprised,
but I thought that you had more sense. From an unloaded
rifle even your Mahdi could not fire —”

“Silence!” interrupted Idris sternly. “The Mahdi is
able to fire even from his finger.”’

“Then you also can fire in that way.”

The Sudanese looked keenly into the boy’s eyes.

“Why do you want me to give you the rifle?”

“T want to teach you how to fire from it.”

“Why should that concern you?”

“A great deal, for if the brigands attack us they might
kill us all. But if you are afraid of the rifle and of me
then it does not matter.”

Idris was silent. In reality he was afraid, but did not
want to admit it. He was anxious, however, to get ac-
quainted with the English weapon, for its possession and

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 121

skill in its use would increase his importance in the
Mahdists’ camp, to say nothing of the fact that it
would be easier for him to defend himself in case of an
attack.

So after a brief consideration he said:

“Good. Let Chamis hand you the rifle-case and you
can take it out.”

Chamis indifferently performed the order, which Gebhr
could not oppose, as he was occupied at some distance
with the camels. Stas with quivering hands took out the
stock and afterwards the barrels, and handed them to
Idris.

“You see they are empty.”

Idris took the barrels and peered upwards through
them.

“Yes, there is nothing in them,”

“Now observe,” said Stas. “This is the way to put a
rifle together ” (and saying this he united the barrel and
stock). “This is the way to open it. Do you see? I
will take it apart again and you can put it together.”

The Sudanese, who watched Stas’ motions with great
attention, tried to imitate him. At first it was not easy
for him, but as Arabians are well known for their skil-
fulness, the rifle, after a while, was put together.

“Open!” commanded Stas.

Idris opened the rifle easily.

TAClOses

This was done yet more easily.

“Now give me two empty shells. I will teach you how
to load the cartridges.”

The Arabs had kept the empty cartridges as they had
a value for them as brass; so Idris handed two of them
to Stas and the instruction began anew.

The Sudanese at first was frightened a little by the

122 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

crack of the caps of the shells, but finally became con-
vinced that no one was able to fire from empty barrels
and empty shells. In addition, his trust in Stas returned
because the boy handed the weapon to him every little
while.

“Yes,” said Stas, “you already know how to put a
rifle together, you know how to open, to close, and to
pull the trigger. But now it is necessary for you to learn
to aim. That is the most difficult thing. Take that
empty water gourd and place it at a hundred paces —
on those stones, and afterwards return to me; I will
show you how to aim.”

Idris took the gourd and without the slightest hesita-
tion walked to the place by the stones which Stas had
indicated. But before he made the first hundred steps,
Stas extracted the empty shells and substituted loaded
cartridges. Not only his heart but the arteries in his
temples began to throb with such a force that he thought
that his head would burst. The decisive moment arrived
—the moment of freedom for Nell and himself — the
moment of victory —terrible and at the same time
desirable.

Now Idris’ life was in his hands. One pull of the trig-
ger and the traitor who had kidnapped Nell would fall
a corpse. But Stas, who had in his veins both Polish
and French blood, suddenly felt that for nothing in the
world could he be capable of shooting a man in the back.
Let him at least turn around and face death in the eye.
And after that, what? After that, Gebhr would come
rushing up, and before he ran ten paces he also would
bite the dust. Chamis would remain. But Chamis would
lose his head, and even though he should not lose it, there
would be time to insert new cartridges in the barrels.

When the Bedouins arrived, they would find three corpses,

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 123

and meet a fate they richly deserved. After that he would
only have to guide the camels to the river.

All these thoughts and pictures flew like a whirlwind
through Stas’ brain. He felt that what was to happen
after a few minutes was at the same time horrible and im-
perative. The pride of a conqueror surged in his breast
with a feeling of aversion for the dreadful deed. There
was a moment when he hesitated, but he recalled the
tortures which the white prisoners endured; he recalled
his father, Mr. Rawlinson, Nell, also Gebhr, who struck
the little girl with a courbash, and hatred burst out in
him with renewed force. “It is necessary!” he said through
his set teeth, and inflexible determination was reflected
on his countenance, which became as if carved out of
stone.

In the meantime Idris placed the gourd on a stone
about a hundred paces distant and turned around. Stas
saw his smiling face and his whole tall form upon the
plain. For the last time the thought flashed through his
mind that this living man would fall after a moment upon
the ground, clutching the sand with his fingers in the last
convulsions of the throes of death. But the hesitation
of the boy ended, and when Idris sauntered fifty paces
toward him, he began slowly to raise the weapon to his
eye.

But before he touched the trigger with his finger, from
beyond the dunes, about a few hundred paces distant,
could be heard tumultuous cheers, and in the same minute
about twenty riders on horses and camels debouched on
the plain. Idris became petrified at the sight. Stas was
amazed no less, but at once amazement gave way to in-
sane joy. The expected pursuit at last! Yes! That
could not be anything else. Evidently the Bedouins had
been captured in a village and were showing where the

124 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

rest of the caravan was concealed! Idris thought the
same. When he collected himself he ran to Stas, with
face ashen from terror, and, kneeling at his feet, began
to repeat in a voice out of breath:

“Sir, I was kind to you! I was kind to the little ‘ bint’!
Remember that!”’

Stas mechanically extracted the cartridges from the
barrels and gazed. The riders drove horses and camels
at the fullest speed, shouting from joy and flinging upwards
their long Arabian rifles, which they caught while in full
gallop with extraordinary dexterity. In the bright trans-
‘parent air they could be seen perfectly. In the middle,
at the van, ran the two Bedouins waving their hands
and burnooses as if possessed.

After a few minutes the whole band dashed to the
caravan. Some of the riders leaped off the horses and
camels; some remained on their saddles, yelling at the
top of their voices. Amid these shouts only two words
could be distinguished.

“Khartim! Gordon! Gordon! Khartim!”’

Finally one of the Bedouins — the one whom his com-
panion called Abu-Anga —ran up to Idris cringing at
Stas’ feet, and began to exclaim:

“Khartiim is taken! Gordon is killed! The Mahdi
is victorious!”

Idris stood erect but did not yet believe his ears.

“ And these men?” he asked with quivering lips.

“These men were to seize us, but now are going together
with us to the prophet.”

Stas’ head swam.

XIV

It was evident that the last hope of escaping during the
journey had become extinct. Stas now knew that his
schemes would avail nothing; that the pursuit would
not overtake them, and that if they endured the hard-
ships of the journey they would reach the Mahdi and
would be surrendered to Smain. The only consolation
now was the thought that they were kidnapped so that
Smain might exchange them for his children. But when
would that happen, and what would they encounter before
that time? What dreadful misfortune awaited them
among the savage hordes intoxicated with blood? Would
Nell be able to endure all these fatigues and privations?

This no one could answer. On the other hand, it
was known that the Mahdi and his dervishes hated
Christians, and Europeans in general; so in the soul of
the boy there was bred a fear that the influence of Smain
might not be sufficient to shield them from indig-
nities, from rough treatment, from the cruelties and
the rage of the Mahdist believers, who even murdered
Mohammedans loyal to the Government. For the first
time since the abduction deep despair beset the boy, and
at the same time some kind of vague notion that
an untoward fate was persecuting them. Why, the idea
itself of abducting them from Fayfim and conveying
them to Khartfim was sheer madness which could be

126 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

committed only by such wild and foolish men as Idris
and Gebhr, not understanding that they would have
to traverse thousands of kilometers over a country sub-
ject to the Egyptian Government or, more properly,
English people. With proper methods they ought to
have been caught on the second day, and nevertheless
everything combined so that now they were not far from
the Second Cataract and none of the preceding pursuing
parties had overtaken them, and the last one which
could have detained them joined the kidnappers and,
from this time, would aid them. To Stas’ despair,
to his fears about little Nell’s fate, was linked a feeling
of humiliation that he was unequal to the situation and,
what was more, was unable now to devise anything, for
even if they returned the rifle and cartridges to him,
he could not, of course, shoot all the Arabs composing
the caravan.

And he was gnawed all the more by these thoughts be-
cause deliverance had been already so near. If Khartiim
had not fallen, or if it had fallen only a few days later,
these same men, who went over to the side of the Mahdi,
would have seized their captors and delivered them to
the Government. Stas, sitting on the camel behind Idris
and listening to their conversation, became convinced
that this undoubtedly would have happened. For,
immediately after they proceeded upon their further
journey, the leader of the pursuing party began to relate
to Idris what induced them to commit treason to the
Khedive. They knew previously that a great army —
not an Egyptian now but an English one — had started
southward against the dervishes under the command
of General Wolseley. They saw a multitude of steamers,
which carried formidable English soldiers from Assuan
to Wadi Halfa, from whence a railroad was built for them

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 127

to Abu Hamed. For a long time all the sheiks on the
river banks, — those who remained loyal to the Govern-
ment as well as those who in the depth of their souls
favored the Mahdi, — were certain that the destruction
of the dervishes and their prophet was inevitable, for
no one had ever vanquished the Englishmen.
“Akbar Allah!” interrupted Idris, raising his hands
upwards. “Nevertheless, they have been vanquished.”
“No,” replied the leader of the pursuing party. “The
Mahdi sent against them the tribes of Jaalin, Barabra,
and Janghey, nearly thirty thousand in all of his best
warriors, under the command of Musa, the son of Helu.
At Abu Klea a terrible battle took place in which God
awarded the victory to the unbelievers. — Yes, it is so.
Musa, the son of Helu, fell, and of his soldiers only a
handful returned to the Mahdi. The souls of the others
are in Paradise, while their bodies lie upon the sands,
awaiting the day of resurrection. News of this spread
rapidly over the Nile. Then we thought that the English
would go farther south and relieve Khartim. The peo-
ple repeated, ‘The end! the end!’ And in the meantime
God disposed otherwise.” |
“How? What happened?” asked Idris feverishly.
“What happened?” said the leader with a brightened
countenance. “Why, in the meantime the Mahdi captured
Khartiim, and during the assault Gordon’s head was cut
off. And as the Englishmen were concerned only about
Gordon, learning of his death, they returned to the north.
Allah! We again saw the steamers with the stalwart
soldiers floating down the river, but did not understand
what it meant. The English publish good news immedi-
ately and suppress bad. Some of our people said that
the Mahdi had already perished. But finally the truth
came to the surface. This region belongs yet to the

128 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Government. In WaAadi Halfa and farther, as far as
the Third and perhaps the Fourth Cataract, the soldiers
of the Khedive can be found; nevertheless, after the
retirement of the English troops, we believe now that the
Mahdi will subdue not only Nubia and Egypt, not only
Mecca and Medina, but the whole world. For that reason
instead of capturing you and delivering you to the hands
of the Government we are going together with you to
the prophet.”

“So orders came to capture us?”’

“To all the villages, to all the sheiks, to the military
garrisons. Wherever the copper wire, over which fly the
commands of the Khedive, does not reach, there came
the ‘zabdis’ (gendarmes) with the announcement that
whoever captures you will receive one thousand pounds
reward. Mashallah! — That is great wealth! —Great!”’

Idris glanced suspiciously at the speaker.

“But you prefer the blessing of the Mahdi?”

“Yes. He captured such immense booty and so
much money in Khartiim that he measures the Egyptian
pounds in fodder sacks and distributes them among his
faithful — ”

“Nevertheless, if the Egyptian troops are yet in Wadi
Halfa, and further, they may seize us on the way.”

“No. It is necessary only to hurry before they re-
cover their wits. Now since the retreat of the English-
men they have lost their heads entirely — the sheiks,
the loyal to the Government, as well as the soldiers and
‘zabdis.’ All think that the Mahdi at any moment will
arrive; for that reason those of us who in our souls favored
him are now running to him boldly, and nobody is pur-
suing us, for in the first moments no one is issuing orders
and no one knows whom to obey.”

“Yes,” replied Idris, “ you say truly that it is necessary

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 129

to hurry, before they recover their wits, since Khartiim
is yet far —” .

For an instant a faint gleam of hope glimmered again
for Stas. If the Egyptian soldiers up to that time occu-
pied various localities on the banks in Nubia, then in
view of the fact that the English troops had taken all
the steamers, they would have to retreat before the
Mahdi’s hordes by land. In such case it might happen
that the caravan would encounter some retreating de-
tachment and might be surrounded. Stas reckoned also
that before the news of the capture of Khartiim circu-
lated among the Arabian tribes north of Wadi Halfa,
considerable time would elapse; the more so as the
Egyptian Government and the English people suppressed
it. He therefore assumed that the panic which must have
prevailed among the Egyptians in the first moment must
have already passed away. ‘To the inexperienced boy
it never occurred that in any event the downfall of Khar-
tim and the death of Gordon would cause people to forget
about everything else, and that the sheiks loyal to the
Government as well as the local authorities would now
have something else to do than to think of rescuing two
white children.

And in fact the Arabs who joined the caravan did
not fear the pursuit very much. They rode with great
haste and did not spare the camels, but they kept close
to the Nile and often during the night turned to the river
to water the animals and to fill the leather bags with
water. At times they ventured to ride to villages even
in daytime. For safety they sent in advance for scout-
ing afew men who, under the pretext of buying provisions,
inquired for news of the locality; whether there were
any Egyptian troops near-by and whether the inhabit-
ants belonged to “the loyal Turks.” If they met resi-

130 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

dents secretly favoring the Mahdi, then the entire caravan
would visit the village, and often it happened that it was
increased by a few or even a dozen or more young Arabs
who also wanted to fly to the Mahdi.

Idris learned also that almost all the Egyptian detach-
ments were stationed on the side of the Nubian Desert,
therefore on the right, the eastern side of the Nile. In
order to avoid an encounter with them it was necessary
only to keep to the left bank and to pass by the larger
cities and settlements. This indeed lengthened their
route a great deal, for the river, beginning at Wadi Halfa,
forms a gigantic arch inclining far towards the south
and afterwards again curving to the northeast as far as
Abu Hamed, where it takes a direct southern course,
but on the other hand this left bank, particularly from
the Oasis of Selimeh, was left almost entirely unguarded.
The journey passed merrily for the Sudanese in an in-
creased company with an abundance of water and sup-
plies. Passing the Third Cataract, they ceased even to
hurry, and rode only at night, hiding during the day
among sandy hills and ravines with which the whole
desert was intersected. A cloudless sky now extended
over them, gray at the horizon’s edges, bulging in the
center like a gigantic cupola, silent and calm. With
each day, however, the heat, in proportion to their south-
ward advance, became more and more terrible, and even
in the ravines, in the deep shade, it distressed the people
and the beasts. On the other hand, the nights were very
cool; they scintillated with twinkling stars which formed,
as it were, greater and smaller clusters. Stas observed
that they were not the same constellations which shone
at night over Port Said. At times he had dreamed of
seeing sometime in his life the Southern Cross, and finally
beheld it beyond El-Ordeh. But at present its luster pro-

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 131

claimed to him his own misfortune. For a few nights
there shone for him the pale, scattered, and sad zodiacal
light, which, after the waning of the evening twi-
light, silvered until a late hour the western side of the

sky.

XV

In two weeks after starting from the neighborhood of
Wadi Halfa the caravan entered upon the region sub-
dued by the Mahdi. They speedily crossed the hilly
Jesira Desert, and near Shendi, where previously the
English forces had completely routed Musa, Uled of
Helu, they rode into a locality entirely unlike the desert.
Neither sands nor dunes could be seen here. As far as
the eye could reach stretched a steppe overgrown in
part by green grass and in part by a jungle amid which
grew clusters of thorny acacias, yielding the well-known
Sudanese gum; while here and there stood solitary gigantic
nabbuk trees, so expansive that under their boughs a hun-
dred people could find shelter from the sun. From time
to time the caravan passed by high, pillar-like hillocks of
termites or white ants, with which tropical Africa is strewn.
The verdure of the pasture and the acacias agreeably
charmed the eyes after the monotonous, tawny-hued sands
of the desert.

In the places where the steppe was a meadow, herds
of camels pastured, guarded by the armed warriors of
_ the Mahdi. At the sight of the caravan they started up
suddenly, like birds of prey; rushed towards it, surrounded
it from all sides; and shaking their spears and at the same
time yelling at the top of their voices they asked the men
from whence they came, why they were going southward,
and whither they were bound? At times they assumed

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 133

such a threatening attitude that Idris was compelled to
reply to their questions in the greatest haste in order to
avoid attack.

Stas, who had imagined that the inhabitants of the Sudén
differed from other Arabs residing in Egypt only in this,
that they believed in the Mahdi and did not want to ac-
knowledge the authority of the Khedive, perceived that he
was totally mistaken. The greater part of those who every
little while stopped the caravan had skins darker than even
Idris and Gebhr, and in comparison with the two Bedouins
were almost black. The negro blood in them predomi-
nated over the Arabian. Their faces and breasts were
tattooed and the prickings represented various designs,
or inscriptions from the Koran. Some were almost naked;
others wore “jubhas” or wrappers of cotton texture
sewed out of patches of various colors. A great many
had twigs of coral or pieces of ivory in their pierced nos-
trils, lips and ears. The heads of the leaders were covered
with caps of the same texture as the wrappers, and the
heads of common warriors were bare, but not shaven
like those of the Arabs in Egypt. On the contrary, they
were covered with enormous twisted locks, often singed
red with lime, with which they rubbed their tufts of
hair for protection against vermin. Their weapons were
mainly spears, terrible in their hands; but they did not
lack Remington carbines which they had captured in
their victorious battles with the Egyptian army and after
the fall of Khartiim. The sight of them was terrifying
and their behavior toward the caravan was hostile, for
they suspected that it consisted of Egyptian traders,
whom the Mahdi, in the first moments after the victory,
prohibited from entering the Sudan.

Having surrounded the caravan, they pointed the
spears with tumult and menace at the breasts of the

134 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

people, or aimed carbines at them. To this hostile
demonstration Idris answered with a shout that he and
his brother belonged to the Dongolese tribe, the same
as that of the Mahdi, and that they were convey-
ing to the prophet two white children as slaves; this
alone restrained the savages from violence. In Stas,
when he came in contact with this dire reality, the spirit
withered at the thought of what awaited them on the
ensuing days. Idris, also, who previously had lived long
years in a civilized community, had never imagined any-
thing like this. He was pleased when one night they
were surrounded by an armed detachment of the Emir
Nur el-Tadhil and conducted to Khartim.

Nur el-Tadhil, before he ran away to the Mahdi, was
an Egyptian officer in a negro regiment of the Khedive:
so he was not so savage as the other Mahdists and Idris
could more easily make himself understood. But here
disappointment awaited him. He imagined that his ar-
rival at the Mahdi’s camp with the white children would
excite admiration, if only on account of the extraordinary
hardships and dangers of the journey. He expected that
the Mahdists would receive him with ardor, with open
arms, and lead him in triumph to the prophet, who would
lavish gold and praises upon him as a man who had not
hesitated to expose his head in order to serve his relative,
Fatma. In the meantime the Mahdists placed spears at
the breasts of members of the caravan, and Nur el-Tadhil
heard quite indifferently his narrative of the journey,
and finally to the question, whether he knew Smain, the
husband of Fatma, answered:

“No. In Omdurmén and Khartiim there are over one
hundred thousand warriors, so it is easy not to meet one
another, and not all the officers are acquainted with each
other. The domain of the prophet is immense; therefore

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 135

many emirs rule in distant cities in Sennar, in Kordofan,
and Darfur, and around Fashoda. It may be that this
Smain, of whom you speak, is not at present at the
prophet’s side.”’

Idris was nettled by the slighting tone with which Nur
spoke of “this Smain,” so he replied with a shade of
impatience:

“Smain is married to a first cousin of the Mahdi, and
therefore Smain’s children are relatives of the prophet.”

Nur el-Tadhil shrugged his shoulders.

“The Mahdi has many relatives and cannot remember
all of them.”

For some time they rode in silence; after which Idris
again asked:

“How soon shall we arrive at Khartim?”’

“Before midnight,” replied el-Tadhil, gazing at the stars
which began to appear in the eastern part of the heavens.

“Shall we at that late hour be able to obtain food and
fodder? Since our last rest at noon we have not eaten
anything.”

“You will pass this night with me and I shall feed you
in my house, but to-morrow in Omdurman you will have
to seek for food yourself, and I warn you in advance that
this will not be an easy matter.”

“cc Why?”

“Because we have a war. The people for the past few
years have not tilled the fields and have lived solely upon
meat; so when finally cattle were lacking, famine came.
There is famine in all the Sudan, and a sack of durra to-
day costs more than a slave.”

“Allah akbar!” exclaimed Idris with surprise, “I saw
nevertheless herds of camels and cattle on the steppes.”

“They belong to the prophet, to the ‘ Noble,’ ! and to

1 The Noble — brothers and relatives of the Mahdi.

136 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

the caliphs. — Yes— The Dongolese, from which tribe
the Mahdi came and the Baggara, whose leader is the
chief caliph, Abdullahi, have still quite numerous herds,
but for other tribes it has become more and more difficult
to live in the world.”

Here Nur el-Tadhil patted his stomach, and said:

“In the service of the prophet I have a higher rank,
more money, and a greater authority, but I had a fuller
stomach in the Khedive’s service.”’

But, realizing that he might have said too much, after
a while he added:

“ But all this will change when the true faith conquers.”

Idris, hearing these words, involuntarily thought that
nevertheless in Fayfim, in the service of the English-
men, he had never. suffered from hunger, and gains
could be more easily secured; so he was cast into a
deep gloom.

After which he began to ask further:

“Are you going to transport us to-morrow to
Omdurmén?”

“Yes. Khartiim by command of the prophet is to be
abandoned and very few reside there. They are razing
the large buildings and conveying the bricks with the
other booty to Omdurman. The prophet does not wish
to live in a place polluted by unbelievers.”’

“T shall beat my forehead before him to-morrow, and
he will command that I be supplied with provisions and
fodder.”

“Ha! If in truth you belong to the Dongolese, then
perhaps you might be admitted to his presence. But
know this, that his house is guarded day and night by a
hundred men equipped with courbashes, and these do
not spare blows to those who crave to see the Mahdi
without permission. Otherwise the swarm would not

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 137

give the holy man a moment of rest — Allah! I saw even
Dongolese with bloody welts on their backs — ”’

Idris with each moment was possessed by greater
disillusionment.

“So the faithful do not see the prophet?” he asked.

“The faithful see him daily at the place of prayer
where, kneeling on the sheep’s hide, he raises his hands
to God, or when he instructs the swarm and strengthens
them in the true faith. But it is difficult to reach and
speak with him, and whoever attains that happiness is
envied by all, for upon him flows the divine grace which
wipes away his former sins.”

A deep night fell and with it came a piercing chill.
In the ranks resounded the snorting of horses; the sudden
change from the daily heat to cold was so strong that
the hides of the steeds began to reek, and the detachment
rode as if in a mist. Stas, behind Idris, leaned towards
Nell and asked:

“Do you feel cold?”

“No,” answered the little girl, “but no one will protect

33

us now —

And tears stifled her further words.

This time he did not find any comfort for her, for he
himself was convinced that there was no salvation for
them. Now they rode over a region of wretchedness,
famine, bestial cruelties, and blood. They were like
two poor little leaves in a storm which bore death and
annihilation not only to the heads of individuals, but
to whole towns and entire tribes. What hand could
snatch from it and save two small, defenseless children?

The moon rolled high in the heaven and changed, as
if into silvery feathers, the mimosa and acacia twigs. In
th edense jungles resounded here and there the shrill
and, at the same time, mockingly mirthful laugh of the

138 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

hyenas, which in that gory region found far too many
corpses. From time to time the detachment conducting the
caravan encountered other patrols and exchanged, with
them the agreed countersign. They came to the hills on the
river banks and through a long pass reached the Nile.
The people and the camels embarked upon wide and
flat “dahabeahs,”’ and soon the heavy oars began with
measured movements to break and ruffle the smooth
river’s depth, strewn with starry diamonds.

After the lapse of half an hour, on the southern side,
on which dahabeahs floated upon the water, flashed
lights which, as crafts approached them, changed into
sheaves of red luster lying on the water. Nur el-Tadhil
shook Idris’ arm, after which, stretching out his hand
before him, he said:

“Khartim!”

XVI

Torey stopped at the city’s limits in a house which
formerly was the property of a rich Italian merchant,
and after his murder during the assault upon the city, had
fallen to Tadhil at the division of the spoils. The wives
of the emir in quite a humane manner took charge of
Nell who was barely alive after the rough treatment, and,
though in all Khartfim could be felt a want of provisions,
they found for the little “jan”! a few dried dates and
a little rice with honey; after which they led her upstairs
and put her to bed. Stas, who passed the night among
the camels and horses in the courtyard, had to be con-
tent with one biscuit; on the other hand, he did not
lack water, for the fountain in the garden, by a strange
chance, was not wrecked. Notwithstanding great weari-
ness, he could not sleep; first on account of scorpions
creeping incessantly over the saddle-cloth on which he
lay, and again on account of a mortal dread that they
would separate him from Nell, and that he would not
be able to watch over her personally. This uneasiness was
evidently shared by Saba, who scented about and from time
to time howled, all of which enraged the soldiers. Stas
quieted him as well as he could from fear that some in-
jury might be done to him. Fortunately the giant mastiff
aroused such admiration in the emir himself and in all
the dervishes that no one lifted a hand against him.
1 “Jan,”’ an expression of endearment, like “little lamb.”

140 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Idris also did not sleep. From the previous day he
had felt unwell and, besides, after the conversation with
Nur el-Tadhil he lost many of his delusions, and gazed
at the future as though through a thick veil. He was
glad that on the morrow they would be transported to
Omdurman, which was separated from Kharttim only
by the width of the White Nile; he had a hope that he
would find Smain there, but what further? During the
journey everything had presented itself to him somewhat
more distinctly and far more splendidly. He sincerely
believed in the prophet and his heart was drawn all the
more to him because both came from the same tribe.
But in addition he was, like almost every Arab, covetous
and ambitious. He had dreamed that he would be loaded
with gold and made an emir at least; he had dreamed
of military expeditions against the “Turks,” of captured
cities and spoils. Now, after what he had heard from
el-Tadhil, he began to fear whether in the presence of far
greater events, all his acts would not fade into insignifi-
cance, just as a drop of rain disappears in the sea. “ Per-
haps,” he thought with bitterness, “nobody will pay
attention to what I have accomplished, and Smain will
not even be pleased that I have brought those children
to him;” and he was gnawed by this thought. The
morrow was to dispel or confirm those fears; so he awaited
it with impatience.

The sun rose at six o’clock, and the bustle among the
dervishes began. Nur el-Tadhil soon appeared and
ordered them to prepare for the journey. He declared
at the same time that they would go to the ferry on foot,
beside his horse. To Stas’ great joy, Dinah led Nell from
an upper floor; after which they proceeded on the ram-
part, skirting the whole city, as far as the place at which
the ferry boats stopped. Nur el-Tadhil rode ahead on

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 141

horseback. Stas escorted Nell by the hand; after them
came Idris, Gebhr, and Chamis, with Dinah and Saba,
as well as thirty of the emir’s soldiers. The rest of the
caravan remained in Khartiim.

Stas, gazing around, could not understand how a city
so strongly fortified, and lying in a fork formed by the
White and Blue Niles, and therefore surrounded on three
sides by water and accessible only from the south, could
fall. Only later did he learn from a Christian slave that
the river at that time had subsided and left a wide sandy
strip, which facilitated access to the ramparts. The
garrison, losing hope of relief and reduced by hunger,
could not repel the assault of the infuriated savages, and
the city was captured; after which a massacre of the
inhabitants took place. Traces of the battle, though
a month had already elapsed since the assault, could
everywhere be seen along the ramparts; on the inside
protruded the ruins of razed buildings against which the
first impetus of the victors had been directed and on the
outside the moat was full of corpses, which no one thought
of burying. Before they reached the ferry Stas counted
over four hundred. They did not, however, infect the air as
the Sudanese sun dried them up like mummies; all had
the hue of gray parchment, and were so much alike that
the bodies of the Europeans, Egyptians, and negroes could
not be distinguished from each other. Amid the corpses
swarmed small gray lizards, which, at the approach of
men, quickly hid under those human remains and often
in the mouths or between the dried-up ribs.

Stas walked with Nell in such a manner as to hide this
horrible sight from her, and told her to look in the direction
of the city.

But from the side of the city many things transpired
which struck the eyes and soul of the little girl with ter-

142 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

ror. The sight of the “English” children, taken into
captivity, and of Saba led with a leash by Chamis at-
tracted a throng, which as the procession proceeded to
the ferry increased with each moment. The throng after
a certain time became so great that it was necessary to
halt. From all sides came threatening outcries. Fright-
fully tattooed faces leaned over Stas and over Nell. Some
of the savages burst out into laughter at the sight of them
and from joy slapped their hips with the palms of their
hands; others cursed them; some roared like wild beasts,
displaying their white teeth and rolling their eyes; finally
they began to threaten and reach out towards them with
knives. Nell, partly unconscious from fright, clung to
Stas, while he shielded her as well as he knew how, in
the conviction that their last hour was approaching.
Fortunately this persistent molestation of the brutal
swarm at last disgusted even Nur el-Tadhil. By his
command between ten and twenty soldiers surrounded
the children, while the others began, without mercy, to
scourge the howling mob with courbashes. The con-
course dispersed hurriedly, but on the other hand a mob
began to gather behind the detachment and amid wild
shrieks accompanied it to the boat.

The children breathed more freely during the passage
over the river. Stas comforted Nell with the statement
that when the dervishes became accustomed to the sight
of them they would cease their threats, and he assured
her that Smain would protect and defend both of them,
and particularly her, for if any evil should befall them he
would not have any one to exchange for his children.
This was the truth, but the littJe girl was so terror-stricken
by the previous assaults that, having seized Stas’ hand,
she did not want to let go of it for a moment, repeating
continually, as if in a fever: “TI am afraid! I am afraid!”’

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 143

He with his whole soul wished to get as soon as possible
into the hands of Smain, who knew them of old, and
who in Port Said had displayed great friendship towards
them, or at least had pretended to displayit. Atany rate
he was not so wild as the other Dongolese of the Sudan,
and captivity in his house would be more endurable.

The only concern now was whether they would find
him in Omdurman. Of this Idris spoke with Nur el-
Tadhil, who at last recollected that a year before, while
tarrying by the order of the caliph Abdullahi in Kordofan,
far from Khartiim, he had heard of a certain Smain,
who taught the dervishes how to fire from the cannons
captured from the Egyptians, and afterwards became a
slave hunter. Nur suggested to Idris the following
method of finding him:

“At noon, when you hear the sounds of the umbajas,!
be with the children at the place of prayer, to which the
Mahdi repairs daily to edify the faithful with an example
of piety and to fortify them in the faith. There besides
the sacred person of the Mahdi you will behold all the
‘Nobles’ and also the three caliphs as well as the pashas
and emirs; among the emirs you may find Smain.”

“But what am I to do and where shall I stay until
the time of the afternoon prayer?”

“You will remain with my soldiers.”

“ And will you, Nur el-Tadhil, leave us?”

“T am going for orders to the caliph Abdullahi.”

“Ts he the greatest of caliphs? I come from far and
though the names of the commanders have reached my
ears, nevertheless you may instruct me more definitely
about them.”

“ Abdullahi my commander is the Mahdi’s sword.”

“May Allah make him the son of victory.”

1 Umbajas — big trumpets of ivory tusk.

144 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

For some time the boat floated in silence. There could
be heard only the grating of the oars on the boat’s edges
and once in a while a splash of water by a crocodile struck
in the tail. Many of these ugly reptiles had swam down
from the south to Khartfim, where they found an abun-
dance of food, for the river teemed with corpses, not only
of the people who were slaughtered after the capture of
the city, but also of those who died of diseases which
raged amidst the Mahdists and particularly among the
slaves. The commands of the caliphs prohibited, indeed,
“the contamination of the water,” but they were not
heeded, and the bodies which the crocodiles did not de-
vour floated with the water, face downward, to the Sixth
Cataract and even as far as Beber.

But Idris thought of something else, and after a while
said:

“This morning we did not get anything to eat. I do
not know whether we can hold out from hunger until
the hour of prayer, and who will feed us later?”’

“You are not a slave,” replied Tadhil, “and can go
to the market-place where merchants display their sup-
plies. There you can obtain dried meat and sometimes
dochnu (millet), but for a high price; as I told you,
famine reigns in Omdurman.”’

“But in the meantime wicked people will seize and
kill those children.”

“The soldiers will protect them, and if you give money
to any one of them, he will willingly go for provisions.”

This advice did not please Idris who had a greater
desire to take money than to give it to any one, but before
he was able to make reply the boat touched the bank.

To the children Omdurmdn appeared different from
Khartiim. In the latter place there were houses of several
stories built of brick and stone; there was a “mudirya,”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 145

that is, a Governor’s palace in which the heroic Gordon
had perished; there were a church, a hospital, missionary
buildings, an arsenal, great barracks for the troops and
a large number of greater and smaller gardens with mag-
nificent tropical plants. Omdurmén, on the other hand,
seemed rather a great encampment of savages. The
fort which stood on the northern side of the settlement
had been razed by command of Gordon. As a whole, as
far as the eye could reach the city consisted of circular
conical huts of dochnu straw. Narrow, thorny little
fences separated these huts from each other and from
the streets. Here and there could be seen tents, evidently
captured from the Egyptians. Elsewhere a few palm
mats under a piece of dirty linen stretched upon bamboo
constituted the entire residence. The population sought
shelter under the roofs during rain or exceptional heat;
for the rest they passed their time, built fires, cooked
food, lived, and died out-of-doors. So the streets were so
crowded that in places the detachment with difficulty
forced its way through the multitude. Formerly Omdur-
man was a wretched village; at present, counting the
slaves, over two hundred thousand people were huddled
in it. Even the Mahdi and his caliphs were perturbed
by this vast concourse, which was threatened with famine
and disease. They continually despatched to the north
new expeditions to subjugate localities and cities, loyal yet
to the Egyptian Government.

At the sight of the white children here also resounded
unfriendly cries, but at least the rabble did not threaten
them with death. It may be that they did not dare to,
being so close to the prophet’s side, and perhaps because
they were more accustomed to the sight of prisoners who
were all transported to Omdurman immediately after
the capture of Khartiim. Stas and Nell, however, saw

146 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

hell on earth. They saw Europeans and Egyptians
lashed with courbashes until they bled; hungry, thirsty,
bending under burdens which they were commanded to
carry or under buckets of water. They saw European
women and children, who were reared in affluence, at
present begging for a handful of durra or a shred of meat;
covered with rags, emaciated, resembling specters, with
faces swarthy from want, on which dismay and despair
had settled, and with a bewildered stare. They saw how
the savages burst into laughter at the sight of these un-
fortunates; how they pushed and beat them. On all the
streets and alleyways there were not lacking sights from
which the eyes turned away with horror and aversion.
In Omdurmén, dysentery and typhoid fever, and, above
all, small-pox raged in a virulent form. The sick, covered
with sores, lay at the entrances of the hovels, infecting
the air. The prisoners carried, wrapped in linen, the bodies
of the newly dead to bury them in the sand beyond the
city, where the real charge of the funeral was assumed
by hyenas. Above the city hovered flocks of vultures
from whose wings fell melancholy shadows upon the
illuminated sand. Stas, witnessing all this, thought that
the best for him and Nell would be to die as soon as
possible.

Nevertheless, in this sea of human wretchedness and
malice there bloomed at times compassion, as a pale
flower blooms in a putrid marsh. In Omdurmén there
were a few Greeks and Copts whom the Mahdi had spared
because he needed them. These not only walked about
freely, but engaged in trade and various affairs, and some,
especially those who pretended to change their faith,
were even officers of the Mahdi, and this gave them con-
siderable importance among the wild dervishes. One of
these Greeks stopped the detachment and began to ques-

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 147

tion the children as to how they happened to be there.
Learning with amazement that they had just arrived,
and that they had been kidnapped from far-away Fayfim,
he promised to speak about them to the Mahdi and to in-
quire about them in the future. In the meantime he
nodded his head compassionately at Nell and gave to
each a few handfuls of dried wild figs and a silver dollar
with an image of Maria Theresa. After which he ad-
monished the soldiers not to dare to do any harm to the
little girl, and he left, repeating in English: “Poor little
bird!”

XVII

THROUGH tortuous little streets they finally arrived at
the market-place which was situated in the center of the
city. On the way they saw many men with a hand or
foot cut off. They were thieves or transgressors who had
concealed booty. The punishment meted by the caliphs
for disobedience or violation of the laws promulgated by
the prophet was horrible, and even for a trivial offense,
such as smoking tobacco, the delinquent was whipped
with courbashes until he bled or became unconscious.
But the caliphs themselves observed these commands
only seemingly; at home they indulged in everything, so
that the penalties fell upon the poor, who at one blow
were despoiled of all their goods. Afterwards there re-
mained for them nothing to do but beg; and as in Om-
durman there was a scarcity of provisions they died of
starvation.

A large number of beggars also swarmed around the
provision stalls. The first object, however, which at-
tracted the attention of the children was a human head
fastened on a high bamboo set up in the center of the
market-place. The face of this head was dried up and
almost black, while the hair on the skull and the chin
was as white as milk. One of the soldiers explained to
Idris that that was Gordon’s head. Stas, when he heard
this, was seized by fathomless sorrow, indignation, and
a burning desire for revenge; at the same time terror

Wie 4

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 149

froze the blood in his veins. Thus had perished that hero,
that knight without fear and without reproach; a man,
just and kind, who was loved even in the Sudan. And
the English people had not come in time to his aid, and
later retired, leaving his remains without a Christian
burial, to be thus dishonored! Stas at that moment lost
his faith in the English people. Heretofore he naively
believed that England, for an injury to one of her citizens,
was always ready to declare war against the whole world.
At the bottom of his soul there had lain a hope that in
behalf of Rawlinson’s daughter, after the unsuccessful
pursuit, formidable English hosts would be set in motion
even as far as Khartim and farther. Now he became
convinced that Khartfim and that whole region was in
the hands of the Mahdi, and that the Egyptian Govern-
ment and England were thinking rather of preserving
Egypt from further conquests than of delivering the
European prisoners from captivity.

He understood that he and Nell had fallen into an
abyss from which there was no escape, and these thoughts,
linked with the horrors which he witnessed on the streets
of Omdurmén, disheartened him completely. His cus-
tomary energy gave way to total passive submission to
fate and a dread of the future. In the meantime he
began aimlessly to gaze about the market-place and at
the stalls at which Idris was bargaining for provisions.
The hucksters, mainly Sudanese women and negresses,
sold jubhas here, that is, white linen gowns, pieced to-
gether with many colored patches, acacia gum, hollow
gourds, glass beads, sulphur and all kinds of mats. There
were a few stalls with provisions and around all of them
the throng pressed. The Mahdists bought at high
prices principally dried strips of meat of domestic animals;
likewise of buffaloes, antelopes and giraffes. Dates, figs,

150 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

manioc, and durra were totally lacking. They sold here
and there water and honey of wild bees, and grains of
dochnu soaked in a decoction of tamarind fruit. Idris
fell into despair, for it appeared that in view of the prevail-
ing market-prices he would soon exhaust all the money
he had received from Fatma Smain for living expenses
and afterwards would, in all probability, have to beg.
His only hope now was in Smain, and strangely enough
Stas also relied solely upon Smain’s assistance.

After a lapse of an hour Nur el-Tadhil returned from
the caliph Abdullahi. Evidently he had met with some
kind of disagreeable mishap there, for he returned in a
bad humor. So when Idris asked him if he had learned
anything about Smain, he replied testily:

“Fool, do you think that the caliph and I have noth-
ing better to do than to seek Smain for you?”

“Well, what are you going to do with me?”

“Do what you please. I gave you a night’s lodging
in my house and a few words of good advice, and now I
do not want to know anything more about you.”

“That is well, but where shall I find shelter? ”

“Tt is all the same to me.”

Saying this he took the soldiers and went away. With
great difficulty Idris prevailed upon him to send to the
market-place the camels and the rest of the caravan, in-
cluding those Arabs who had joined it between Assuan
and WAdi Halfa. These people did not come until the
afternoon, and it appeared that none of them knew
what they were going to do. The two Bedouins be-
gan to quarrel with Idris and Gebhr, claiming that they
had promised them an entirely different reception and
that they had cheated them. After a long dispute and
much deliberation they finally decided to erect at the
outskirts of the city huts of dochnu boughs and reeds as

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 151

shelter during the night, and for the rest to depend upon
the will of providence, and wait.

After the erection of the huts, which employment does
not require much time from Sudanese and negroes, all,
excepting Chamis, who was to prepare the supper, re-
paired to the place of public prayer. It was easy for them
to find it, as the swarm of all Omdurman was bound
thither. The place was spacious, encircled partly by a
thorny fence and partly by a clay enclosure which was
being built. In the center stood a wooden platform.
The prophet ascended it whenever he desired to instruct
the people. In front of the platform were spread upon
the ground sheep hides for the Mahdi, the caliphs, and
eminent sheiks. Planted at the sides were the flags of
emirs, which fluttered in the air, displaying all colors
and looking like great flowers. The four sides were sur-
rounded by the compact ranks of dervishes. Around
could be seen a bold, numberless forest of spears, with
which almost all the warriors were armed.

It was real good fortune for Idris and Gebhr, and
for the other members of the caravan, that they were
taken for a retinue of one of the emirs. For that reason
they could press forward to the first rows of the assem-
bled throng. The arrival of the Mahdi was announced
by the beautiful and solemn notes of umbajas, but when
he appeared there resounded the shrill notes of fifes, the
beating of drums, the rattle of stones shaken in empty
gourds, and whistling on elephants’ teeth, all of which com-
bined created an infernal din. The swarm was swept
by an indescribable fervor. Some threw themselves on
their knees; others shouted with all their strength:

“Oh! Messenger of God!” “Oh! Victorious!” “Oh!
Merciful!” “Oh! Gracious!” This continued until the
Mahdi entered the pulpit. Then a dead stillness fell while

152° IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

he raised his hands, placed his big fingers to his ears, and
for some time prayed.

The children did not stand far away, and could see
him well. He was a middle-aged man, prodigiously obese
as though bloated, and almost black. Stas, who had an
unusually keen sight, perceived that his face was tattooed.
In one ear he wore a big ivory ring. He was dressed in a
white jubha and had a white cap on his head. His feet
were bare, as on mounting the platform he shook off
red half-boots and left them on the sheep’s hide on which
he was afterwards to pray. There was not the least
luxury in his clothing. Only at times the wind carried
a strong sandal! scent which the faithful present inhaled
eagerly through their nostrils; at the same time they
rolled their eyes from joy. On the whole Stas had pic-
tured differently this terrible prophet, plunderer, and
murderer of so many thousand people, and looking now
at the fat face with its mild look, with eyes suffused with
tears, and with a smile, as though grown to those lips, he
could not overcome his astonishment. He thought that
such a man ought to bear on his shoulders the head of
a hyena or a crocodile, and instead he saw before him
a chubby-faced gourd, resembling drawings of a full
moon.

But the prophet began his instruction. His deep and
resonant voice could be heard perfectly all over the
place, so that his words reached the ears of all the faith-
ful. He first spoke of the punishments which God meted
out to those who disobey the commands of the Mahdi,
and hide booty, get intoxicated upon merissa, spare the
enemy in battles, and smoke tobacco. On account of
these crimes Allah sends upon the sinners famine and

1 From sandal wood, from which in the Kast a fragrant oil
is derived.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 153

that disease which changes the face into a honey-comb
(small-pox). Temporal life is like a leaky leather bottle.
Riches and pleasure are absorbed in the sand which
buries the dead. Only faith is like a cow which gives
sweet milk. But paradise will open only for the victo-
rious. Whoever vanquishes the enemy wins for himself
salvation. Whoever dies for the faith will rise from the
dead for eternity. Happy, a hundredfold more happy
are those who already have fallen.

“We want to die for the faith!”” answered the swarm in
one tumultuous shout.

And for a while an infernal uproar again prevailed.
The umbajas and drums sounded. The warriors struck
sword against sword, spear against spear. The martial
ardor spread like a flame. Some cried: “The faith is
victorious!”” Others: “To paradise through death!”
Stas now understood why the Egyptian army could not
cope with this wild host.

When the hubbub had somewhat subsided, the prophet
resumed his address. He told them of his visions and of
the mission which he had received from God. Allah
commanded him to purify the faith and spread it over
the entire world. Whoever does not acknowledge him
as the Mahdi, the Redeemer, is condemned to damna-
tion. The end of the world is already near, but before
that time it is the duty of the faithful to conquer Egypt,
Mecca, and all those regions beyond the seas where the
gentiles dwell. Such is the divine will which nothing can
change. A great deal of blood will flow yet; many war-
riors will not return to their wives and children under
their tents, but the happiness of those who fall no human
tongue can describe.

After which he stretched out his arms towards the
assembled throng and concluded thus:

154 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“Therefore I, the Redeemer and servant of God, bless
this holy war and you warriors. I bless your toils, wounds,
death; I bless victory, and weep over you like a father
who has conceived an affection for you.”

And he burst into a flood of tears. When he descended
from the pulpit a roar and a clamor resounded. Weep-
ing became general. Below, the two caliphs Abdullahi
and Ali Uled Helu took the prophet under the arms and
escorted him to the sheep hide on which he knelt. Dur-
ing this brief moment Idris asked Stas feverishly whether
Smain was not among the emirs.

“No!” replied the boy, who vainly sought the familiar
face with his eyes. “I do not see him anywhere. Perhaps
he fell at the capture of Khartiim.”

The prayers lasted long. During these the Mahdi
threw his arms and legs about like a buffoon or raised his
eyes in rapture, repeating “Lo! It is he!” “Lo! It is
he!”’ and the sun began to decline towards the west, when
he rose and left for his home. The children now could
be convinced with what reverence the dervishes sur-
rounded their prophet, for crowds eagerly followed him
and scratched up the places which his feet touched. They
even quarreled and came to blows for they believed
that such earth protected the healthy and healed the
sick.

The place of prayer was vacated gradually. Idris
himself did not know what to do and was about to return
with the children and his whole party to the huts and
to Chamis for the night, when unexpectedly there stood
before them that same Greek who in the morning had
given Stas and Nell each a dollar and a handful of wild
figs.

“T spoke with the Mahdi about you;” he said in Arabian,
“and the prophet desires to see you.”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 155

“Thanks to Allah and to you, sir,’ exclaimed Idris.
“Shall we find Smain at the prophet’s side.”

“Smain is in Fashoda,” answered the Greek.

After which he addressed Stas in the English language.

“It may be that the prophet will take you under his
protection as I endeavored to persuade him to do. I told
him that the fame of his mercy would then spread among
all the white nations. Here terrible things are taking
place and without his protection you will perish from
starvation and want of comforts, from sickness or at the
hands of madmen. But you must reconcile him and
that depends upon you.”

“What am I to do?” Stas asked.

“In the first place, when you appear before him throw
yourself upon your knees, and if he should tender his
hand, kiss it with reverence and beseech him to take you
two under his wings.”

Here the Greek broke off and asked:

“Do any of these men understand English?”

“No. Idris and Gebhr understand only a few simple
words and the others not even that.”

“That is well. So listen further, for it is necessary to
anticipate everything. Now the Mahdi will in all proba-
bility ask you whether you are ready to accept his faith.
Answer at once that you are and that at the sight of him,
from the first glance of the eye an unknown light of grace
flowed upon you. Remember, ‘an unknown light of grace.’
That will flatter him and he will enroll you among his
muzalems, that is, among his personal servants. You
will then enjoy plenty and all the comforts which will
shield you from sickness. If you should act otherwise
you would endanger yourself, that poor little creature, and
even me, who wishes your good. Do you understand?”

Stas set his teeth and did not reply, but his face was

156 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

icy and his eyes flashed up sullenly. Seeing which the
Greek continued thus:

“T know, my boy, that this is a disagreeable matter,
but it cannot be helped. All of those who were saved
after the massacre in Khartiim accepted the Mahdi’s
doctrines. Only a few Catholic missionaries and nuns
did not assent to it, but that is a different matter. The
Koran prohibits the slaughter of priests, so though their
fate is horrible, they are not at least threatened with
death. For the secular people, however, there was no
other salvation. I repeat, they all accepted Mohammed-
ism; the Germans, Italians, Englishmen, Copts, Greeks —
I myself.”

And here, though Stas had assured him that no one
in that crowd understood English, he nevertheless lowered
his voice.

“Besides, I need not tell you that this is no denial of
faith, no treason, no apostasy. In his soul every one
remained what he was and God saw it. Before superior
force it is necessary to bend, though seemingly. It is
the duty of man to preserve life and it would be madness,
and even a sin, to jeopardize it —for what? For appear-
ances, for a few words, which at the same time you may
disavow in your soul? And remember that you hold in
your hands not only your life but the life of your little
companion which it is not permissible for you to dispose
of. In truth, I can guarantee to you if ever God saves
you from these hands then you will not have anything
to reproach yourself with, nor will any one find fault with
you, as this is the case with all of us.”

The Greek, speaking in this manner, perhaps deceived his
own conscience, but Stas’ silence deceived him also for
in the end he mistook it for fear. He determined there-
fore to give the boy courage.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 157

“These are the houses of the Mahdi,” he said. “He
prefers to live in the wooden sheds of Omdurman rather
than in Khartiim, though there he could occupy Gordon’s
palace. Well then, bravely! Don’t lose your head! To
the question reply firmly. They prize courage here. Also
do not imagine that the Mahdi will at once roar at you
like a lion! No! He always smiles, even when contem-
plating nothing good.”

And saying this he began to shout at the crowd stand-
ing in front of the house to make way for the prophet’s
“ guests.”

XVIII

WHEN they entered the room, the Mahdi lay on a soft
cot, surrounded by his wives, two of whom fanned him
with great ostrich feathers and the other two lightly
scratched the soles of his feet. Besides his wives, there
were present only the caliph Abdullahi and the sheref
caliph, as the third, Ali Uled Helu, was despatching at that
time troops to the north, particularly to Beber and Abu
Hamed, which already had been captured by the der-
vishes. At sight of the arrivals the prophet dismissed
his wives and sat up on the cot. Idris, Gebhr, and the
two Bedouins fell on their faces and afterwards knelt
with hands crossed on their breasts. The Greek beckoned
to Stas to do the same, but the boy, pretending not to
see the gesture, only bowed and remained standing erect.
His face was pale, but his eyes shone strongly and from
his whole posture and head, haughtily upraised, from
his tightly compressed lips it could easily be seen that
something had taken an ascendancy over him, that un-
certainty and fear had passed away, that he had adopted
an inflexible resolution from which he would not recede
for anything. The Greek evidently understood this,
as great uneasiness was reflected on his features. The
Mahdi observed both children with a fleeting glance,
brightened his fat face with his customary smile, after
which he first addressed Idris and Gebhr:

“You came from the distant north,” he said.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 159

Idris struck the ground with his forehead.

“Yes, oh Mahdi! We belong to the tribe of Dongola;
therefore we abandoned our homes in Faytim in order to
kneel at your blessed feet.”

“T beheld you in the desert. That was a terrible journey
but I sent an angel to guard and shield you from death
at the hands of the infidels. You did not see this, but
he watched over you.”

“Thanks to thee, Redeemer.”’

“And you brought those children to Smain to exchange
them for his own, that the Turks imprisoned together
with Fatma in Port Said.”’

“Thee we desired to serve.”

“Whoever serves me—serves his own salvation;
therefore you have opened for yourselves the path to
paradise. Fatma is my relative. But verily I say unto
you that when we subjugate the whole of Egypt, then
my relative and her posterity will anyway regain liberty.”

“And therefore do with these children whatever thou
desirest — oh blessed one.”

The Mahdi closed his eyelids, after which he opened
them, smiling kindly, and nodded at Stas.

“ Approach, boy.”

Stas advanced a few paces with an energetic, as if sol-
dierly, stride; he bowed a second time after which he
straightened as a chord and, looking straight into the
Mahdi’s eyes, waited.

“Are you delighted that you came to me?” the Mahdi
asked.

“No, prophet. We were abducted in spite of our wills
from our parents.”

This plain answer created a certain sensation upon
the ruler accustomed to flattery, and upon those present.

Caliph Abdullahi frowned, the Greek gnawed his mus-

160 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

tache, and began to wring his hands. The Mahdi, however,
did not cease to smile.

“But,” he said, “you are at the fountain of truth.
Do you want to drink at that fountain?”

A moment of silence followed; so the Mahdi, thinking
the boy did not understand the question, repeated it more
plainly.

“Do you desire to accept my doctrines?”

To this Stas imperceptibly made a sign of the holy cross
with his hand which he held at his breast, as though he
was about to leap from a sinking ship into a watery chaos.

“Prophet,” he said, “your doctrines I do not know;
therefore if I accepted them, I would do it out of fear
like a coward and a base man. Are you anxious that
your faith should be professed by cowards and base
people?”

And speaking thus he looked steadfastly in the eyes of
the Mahdi. It became so quiet that only the buzz of
flies could be heard. But at the same time something
extraordinary had happened. The Mahdi became con-
fused, and for the nonce did not know what reply to make.
The smile vanished from his face, on which was reflected
perplexity and displeasure. He stretched out his hand,
took hold of the gourd, filled it with water and honey,
and began to drink, but obviously only to gain time and
to conceal his confusion.

And the brave boy, a worthy descendant of the defenders
of Christianity, of the true blood of the victors at Khoczim
and Vienna, stood with upraised head, awaiting his doom.
On his emaciated cheeks, tanned by the desert winds,
bloomed bright blushes, his eyes glittered, and his body
quivered with the thrill of ardor. “ All others,” he solilo-
quized, “accepted his doctrines, but I have denied neither
my faith nor my soul.” And fear before what might

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 161

and was to follow at that moment was subdued in his
heart, and joy and pride overflowed it.

In the meantime the Mahdi replaced the gourd and
asked :

“So, you reject my doctrines?”

“T am a Christian like my father.”

“Whoever closes his eyes to the voice of God,’ said
the Mahdi slowly in a changed voice, “is only fuel for
the flames.”

At this the caliph Abdullahi, notorious for his ferocity
and cruelty, displayed his white teeth like a savage animal
and spoke out:

“The speech of this boy is insolent; therefore punish
him, lord, or permit me to punish him.”

“Tt has happened!” Stas thought.

But the Mahdi always desired that the fame of his
mercy should spread not only among the dervishes but
over the whole world; therefore he thought that a too
severe sentence, particularly upon a small boy, might
injure that fame.

For a while he fingered the rosary beads and meditated,
and afterwards said:

“No. These children were abducted for Smain; so,
though I do not want to enter into any negotiations with
the infidels, it is necessary to send them to Smain. Such
is my will.”

“Tt shall be obeyed,” answered the caliph.

But the Mahdi pointed to Idris, Gebhr, and the
Bedouins and said:

“Reward these men for me, oh Abdullahi, for they
made a long and dangerous journey to serve God and
me.”

After which he nodded in sign that the audience was
ended and at the same time ordered the Greek to leave

162 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

also. The latter, when they found themselves in the
darkness on the place of prayer, seized Stas’ arm and
began to shake it with anger and despair.

“ Accursed! You have sealed the doom of that innocent
child,” he said, pointing at Nell. “You have ruined
yourself and perhaps me.”

“T could not do otherwise,” answered Stas.

“You could not? Know that you are condemned to
a journey a hundredfold worse than the first. And that
is death,—do you understand? In Fashoda the fever
will kill you in the course of a week. The Mahdi knew
why he sent you to Smain.”

“In Omdurmén we also would perish.”

“That is not true! You would not have perished in
the house of the Mahdi, in plenty and comfort. And he
was ready to take you under his wings. I know that he
was. You also repaid me nicely for interceding for you.
But do what you wish, Abdullahi will despatch the camel-
post to Fashoda in about a week and during that time
do whatever you please! You will not see me any more!”

Saying this he went away, but after a while returned.
He, like all Greeks, was loquacious, and it was necessary
for him to tell everything he had to say. He wanted to
pour upon Stas’ head all the bile which had accumulated
within him. He was not cruel and did not possess a bad
heart; he desired, however, that the boy should under-
stand more thoroughly the awful responsibility which
he had assumed in not heeding his advice and warnings.

“Who would have prevented you from remaining a
Christian in your soul?” he said. “Do you think that
I am not one? But I am not a fool. You on the other
hand preferred to make a parade of your false heroism.
Heretofore I have rendered great services to the white
prisoners, but now I shall not be able to aid them for the

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 163

Mahdi has become incensed at me. All will perish. And
your little companion in misfortune also: you have killed
her! In Fashoda even adult Europeans die of the fever
like flies, and what of such a child? And if they order
you to go on foot beside the horses and camels, she will
fall the first day. You did all this. Enjoy yourself now
— you Christian!”

And he left them while they turned from the place of
prayer towards the huts. They walked long, as the city
was spread over an immense space. Nell, worn out by
fatigue, hunger, fright, and the horrible impressions of
the whole day, began to lag. Idris and Gebhr urged her
to walk faster. But after a time her limbs became en-
tirely numb. Then Stas, without reflection, took her in
his arms and carried her. On the way he wanted to speak
to her; he wanted to justify himself, but ideas were
torpid, as if they were dead in his mind; so he only re-
peated in a circle, “Nell! Nell! Nell!” and he clasped
her to his bosom, not being able to say anything more.
After a few score paces Nell fell asleep in his arms from
exhaustion; so he walked in silence amid the quiet of the
slumbering little streets, interrupted only by the con-
versation of Idris and Gebhr, whose hearts overflowed
with joy. This was fortunate for Stas, as otherwise
they would have punished him for his insolent reply
to the Mahdi. They were, however, so occupied with
what they had seen that they could not think of any-
thing else.

“T felt sick,” said Idris, “but the sight of the prophet
healed me.”

“He is like a palm in the desert, and like cool water on
a scorching day, and his words are like ripe dates,” an-
swered Gebhr.

“Nur el-Tadhil lied when he said that he would not

164 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

permit us to be admitted to his presence. He admitted
us, blessed us, and ordered Abdullahi to lavish gifts
upon us.”

“Who will munificently enrich us, for the wish of the
Mahdi is sacred.”

“Bismillah! May it be as you say!” spoke out one
of the Bedouins.

And Gebhr began to dream of whole herds of camels,
horned cattle, and bags full of piastres.

From these dreams he was awakened by Idris who,
pointing at Stas carrying the sleeping girl, asked:

“What shall we do with that hornet and that fly?”

“Ha! Smain ought to reward us for them, separately.”

“Since the prophet says that he will not permit any
negotiations with the infidels, Smain will have no interest
in them.”

“Tn such case I regret that they did not get into the
hands of the caliph, who would have taught that whelp
what it is to bark against the truth and the elect of the
Lord.”

“The Mahdi is merciful,”’ answered Idris.

After which he pondered for a while and said:

“Nevertheless, Smain having both in his hands will be
certain that neither the Turks nor the English people
will kill his children and Fatma.”

“So he may reward us?”

“Yes. Let Abdullahi’s post take them to Fashoda.
A weight will fall off our heads, and when Smain returns
here we will demand recompense from him.”

“You say then that we will remain in Omdurman?”

“Allah! Have you not had enough in the journey
from Fayfim to Khartim? The time for rest has come.”

The huts were now not far off. Stas, however, slack-
ened his pace for his strength began to wane. Nell,

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 165

though light, seemed heavier and heavier. The Sudanese,
who were anxious to go to sleep, shouted at him to hurry
and afterwards drove him on, striking him on the head
with their fists. Gebhr even pricked him painfully in
the shoulder with a knife. The boy endured all this in
silence, protecting above all his little sister, and not until
one of the Bedouins shoved him so that he almost fell,
did he say to them through his set teeth:

“We are to arrive at Fashoda alive.”

And these words restrained the Arabs, for they feared
to violate the commands of the Mahdi. A yet more ef-
fective restraint, however, was the fact that Idris suddenly
became so dizzy that he had to lean on Gebhr’s arm.
After an interval the dizziness passed away, but the
Sudanese became frightened and said:

“Allah! Something ails me. Has not some sickness
taken hold of me?”

“You have seen the Mahdi, so you will not fall sick,”
answered Gebhr.

They finally reached the huts. Stas, hurrying with the
remnants of his strength, delivered sleeping Nell to the
hands of old Dinah, who, though unwell also, neverthe-
less made a comfortable bed for her little lady. The
Sudanese and the Bedouins, swallowing a few strips of
raw meat, flung themselves, like logs, on the saddle-cloth.
Stas was not given anything to eat, but old Dinah
shoved into his hand a fistful of soaked durra, a certain
amount of which she had stolen from the camels. But he
was not in the mood for eating or sleeping, for the load
which weighed on his shoulders was in truth too heavy.
He felt that in rejecting the favor of the Mahdi, for which
it was necessary to pay with denial of faith and soul, he
had acted as he should have done; he felt that his father
would have been proud and happy at his conduct, but

166 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

at the same time he thought that he had caused the de-
struction of Nell, his companion in misfortune, his little
beloved sister, for whom he would willingly have sacri-
ficed his last drop of blood.

~ So when all had fallen asleep he burst into a flood of
tears, and, lying on a piece of saddle-cloth, he wept long,
like the child which, after all, he still was.

XIX

THE visit to the Mahdi and the interview with him evi-
dently did not heal Idris, as during the night he grew
worse and in the morning became unconscious. Chamis,
Gebhr, and the two Bedouins were summoned to the
caliph who detained them some hours and praised their
courage. But they returned in the worst humor and with
rage in their souls for they had expected the Lord knows
what rewards, and in the meantimé Abdullahi gave each
one an Egyptian pound ! and a horse.

The Bedouins began a quarrel with Gebhr which
almost resulted in a fight; in the end they announced that
they would ride together with the camel-post to Fashoda
to demand payment from Smain. They were joined by .
Chamis who expected that the patronage of Smain would
be more beneficial to him than a sojourn in Omdurmén.

For the children a week of hunger and misery began,
for Gebhr did not think of feeding them. Fortunately
Stas had the two dollars with the effigy of Maria Theresa,
which he got from the Greek; so he went to the city to
buy dates and rice. The Sudanese did not oppose this
trip as they knew that he could not escape from Omdur-
man and that under no circumstances would he desert
the little “bint.”” This experience did not pass without
some adventures, however, for the sight of a boy in Euro-
pean dress buying provisions at the market-place, again

1 About five dollars. — Translator’s Note.

168 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

attracted a crowd of semi-savage dervishes, who received
him with laughter and yells. Fortunately many knew
that he had been at the Mahdi’s the previous day, and
they restrained those who wanted to assault him. Only
children threw sand and stones at him, but he paid no
attention to them.

At the market-place the prices were too high. Stas
could not obtain any dates at all and a considerable part
of the rice was taken away from him by Gebhr for “his
sick brother.”’ The boy resisted with all his strength,
in consequence of which a scuffle and fight ensued, in
which the really weaker one came out with numerous
contusions and bruises. In addition the cruelty of Chamis
became manifest. The latter evinced an attachment for
Saba and fed him with raw meat; on the other hand, at
the distress of the children, whom he knew of old and who
had always been kind to him, he looked with the utmost
indifference, and when Stas addressed him with a request
that he should at least give Nell a morsel of food, he
replied, laughing:

“Go and beg.”’

And it finally came to the pass that Stas during the
following days, desiring to save Nell from death by
starvation, begged. Nor was he always unsuccessful.
At times some former soldier or officer of the Egyptian
Khedive gave him a few piastres or a few dried figs, and
promised to aid him on the following day. Once he hap-
pened to meet a missionary and a sister of charity, who,
hearing his story, bemoaned the fate of both children, and
though they themselves were wasted with hunger, shared
with him everything which they had. They also prom-
ised to visit them in the huts and did actually come the
next day in the hope that they might succeed in taking
the children with them until the time of the departure of

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 169

the post. But Gebhr with Chamis drove them away with
courbashes. On the following day Stas met them again

and received from them a little measure of rice together
with two quinine powders, which the missionary in-
structed him to save most carefully in the expectation
that in Fashoda fever inevitably awaited both.

“You will ride now,” he said, “alongside of the dense
floating masses in the White Nile or the so-called ‘ sudds.’
The river, not being able to flow freely across the barriers
composed of vegetation and weeds which the current of the
water carries and deposits in the more shallow places,
forms there extensive and infectious swamps, amid which
the fever does not spare even the negroes. Beware par-
ticularly of sleeping on the bare ground without a fire.”

“We already wish to die,” answered Stas, almost with
a moan.

At this the missionary raised his haggard face and for
a while prayed; after which he made the sign of the cross
over the boy and said:

“Trust in God. You did not deny Him; so His mercy
and care will be over you.”

Stas tried not only to beg, but to work. A certain day,
seeing a crowd of men laboring at the place of prayer, he
joined them, and began to carry clay for the palisade
with which the place was to be surrounded. They jeered
at and jostled him, but at evening the old sheik, who
superintended the work, gave him twelve dates. Stas
was immensely overjoyed at this compensation, for
dates with rice formed the only wholesome nourishment
for Nell and became more and more difficult to obtain in
Omdurmén.

So he brought them with pride to his little sister, to
whom he gave everything which he could secure; he
sustained himself for a week almost exclusively upon

170 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

durra taken from the camels. Nell was greatly delighted
at the sight of her favorite fruit but wanted him to share
it with her. So, tiptoeing, she placed her hands on his
shoulders, and turning up her head, began to gaze into
his eyes and plead:

“Stas! Eat a half, eat — ”

To this he replied:

“T have already eaten. I have eaten. I have eaten
my fill.”

And he smiled, but immediately began to bite his lips
in order not to weep, as he really was hungry. He prom-
ised himself that the following day he would go again
and earn some more; but it happened otherwise. In the
morning a muzalem from Abdullahi came with the an-
nouncement that the camel-post was to leave at night
for Fashoda, and with the caliph’s command that Idris,
Gebhr, Chamis, and the two Bedouins should prepare to
go with the children. This command amazed and aroused
the indignation of Gebhr; so he declared that he would
not go as his brother was sick and there was no one to
attend to him, and even if he were well, both had decided
to remain in Omdurman.

But the muzalem replied:

“The Mahdi has only one will, and Abdullahi, his
caliph and my master, never alters commands. Your
brother can be attended by a slave, while you will depart
for Fashoda.”’

“Then I shall go and inform him that I will not depart.”

“To the caliph are admitted only those whom he him-
self desires to see. And if you without permission, and
through violence, should force yourself into his presence,
I will lead you to the gallows.”

“Allah akbar! Then tell me plainly that I am a slave!”

“Be silent and obey orders!”” answered the muzalem.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS A |

The Sudanese had seen in Omdurman gallows breaking
under the weight of hanging men. By order of the fero-
cious Abdullahi these gallows were daily decorated with
new bodies. Gebhr became terror-stricken. That which
the muzalem told him, that the Mahdi commanded but
once, was reiterated by all the dervishes. There was
therefore no help; it was necessary to ride.

“T shall see Idris no more!”’ thought Gebhr.

In his tigerish heart was concealed a sort of attachment
for his older brother, so that at the thought that he would
have to leave him in sickness he was seized by despair.
In vain did Chamis and the Bedouins represent to him
that they might fare better in Fashoda than in Omdur-
man, and that Smain in all probability would reward
them more bountifully than the caliph had done. No
words could assuage Gebhr’s grief and rage, and the rage
rebounded mainly upon Stas.

It was indeed a day of martyrdom for the boy. He
was not permitted to go to the market-place, so he could
not earn anything or beg, and was compelled to work as
a slave at the pack-saddles, which were being prepared
for the journey. This became a more difficult matter
as from hunger and torture he weakened very much.
He was certain that he would die on the road; if not
under Gebhr’s courbash, then from exhaustion.’

Fortunately the Greek, who had a good heart, came
in at the evening to visit the children and to bid them
farewell, and at the same time to provide for them on
the way. He brought a few quinine powders, and besides
these a few glass beads and a little food. Finally, learning
of Idris’ sickness, he turned to Gebhr, Chamis, and the
Bedouins.

“Know this,” he said. “I come here by the Mahdi’s

command.”

172 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

And when they heard this they.ssmote with their fore-
heads and he continued:

“You are to feed the children on the way and treat
them well. They are to render a report of your behavior
to Smain. Smain shall write of this to the prophet. If
any complaint against you comes here, the next post
will carry a death sentence for you.”

A new bow was the only reply to these words; in ad-
dition Gebhr and Chamis had the miens of dogs on which
muzzles are placed.

The Greek then ordered them away, after which he
thus spoke to the children in English:

“T fabricated all this, for the Mahdi did not issue any
new orders. But as he said that you were to go to Fashoda,
it is necessary that you should reach there alive. I also
reckoned upon this, that none of them will see either the
Mahdi or the caliph before their departure.”

After which to Stas:

“T took umbrage at you, boy, and feel it yet. Do you
know that you almost ruined me? The Mahdi was
offended at me, and to secure his forgiveness I was forced
to surrender to Abdullahi a considerable portion of my
estate, and besides, I do not know for how long a time I
have saved myself. In any case I shall not be able to
assist the captives as I have heretofore done. But I felt
sorry for you, particularly for her (and here he pointed
at Nell). I have a daughter of the same age, whom I
love more than my own life, and for her sake I have
done everything which I have done. Christ will judge
me for this— Up to this time she wears under her dress,
on her breast, a silver cross. — Her name is the same as
yours, little one. Were it not for her, I would have pre-
ferred to die rather than to live in this hell.”

He was deeply moved. For a while he was silent, after

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 173
which he rubbed his forehead with his hand and began

to speak of something else.

“The Mahdi sends you to Fashoda with the idea that
there you will die. In this manner he will revenge him-
self upon you for your stubbornness, boy, which touched
him deeply, and he will not lose his fame for ‘mercy.’ He
always acts thus. But who knows who is destined to die
first? Abdullahi suggested to him the idea that he should
order the dogs who kidnapped you, to go with you. He
rewarded them miserably, and now he fears that they
may publish it. Besides, they both preferred that the
people should not be told that there are still in Egypt
troops, cannons, money, and Englishmen. —It will be
a hard road and distant. You will go into a country
desolate and unhealthy. So guard, as the eye in the
head, those powders which I gave to you.”

“Sir, order Gebhr once more not to dare to starve or
hit Nell,”’ said Stas.

“Do not fear. I commended you to the old sheik
who has charge of the post. He is an old acquaintance
of mine. I gave him a watch and with that I gained his
protection for you.”

Saying this, be began to bid them farewell. Taking
Nell in his arms, he pressed her to his bosom and repeated:

“May God bless you, my child.”

In the meantime the sun descended and the night
became starry. In the dusk resounded the snorting of
horses and the groans of the heavily loaded camels.

XX

Tue old sheik Hatim faithfully kept his promise given
to the Greek and watched over the children with great
solicitude. The journey up the White Nile was difficult.
They rode through Keteineh, Ed-Dueim, and Kawa; after-
wards they passed Abba, a woody Nile island, on which
before the war the Mahdi dwelt, in a hollow tree as a
dervish hermit. The caravan often was compelled to
make a detour around extensive floating masses overgrown
with pyrus, or so-called “sudds,”’ from which the breeze
brought the poisoned odor of decomposed leaves carried
by the current of water. English engineers had previously
cut through these barriers, and formerly steamboats
could ascend from Khartfim to Fashoda and farther. At
present the river was blocked again and, being unable to
run freely, overflowed on both sides. The right and left
banks of this region were covered by a high jungle amid
which stood hillocks of termites and solitary gigantic
trees; here and there the forest reached the river. In
dry places grew groves of acacias. During the first week
they saw Arabian settlements and towns composed of
houses with strange conical roofs made of dochnu straw,
but beyond Abba, from the settlement of Géz Abu Guma
they rode in the country of the blacks. It was nearly
desolate, for the dervishes had almost totally carried away
the local negro population and sold it in the markets
of Khartiim, Omdurmaén, Fasher, Dar, El-Obeid, and other

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 175

cities in the Sudan, Darfur, and Kordofan. Those inhab-
itants who succeeded in escaping slavery in thickets in the
forests were exterminated by starvation and small-pox,
which raged with unusual virulence along the White and
Blue Niles. The dervishes themselves said that whole
nations had died of it. The former plantations of sorghum,
manioc, and bananas were covered by a jungle. Only
wild beasts, not pursued by any one, multiplied plenti-
fully. Sometimes before the evening twilight the children
saw from a distance great herds of elephants, resembling
movable rocks, walking with slow tread to watering places
known only to themselves. At the sight of them Hatim,
a former ivory dealer, smacked his lips, sighed, and spoke
thus to Stas in confidence:

“Mashallah! How much wealth there is here! But
now it is not worth while to hunt, for the Mahdi has
prohibited Egyptian traders from coming to Khartfim,
and there is no one to sell the tusks to, unless to the emirs
for umbajas.”

They met also giraffes, which, seeing the caravan, es-
caped hurriedly with heavy ambling pace, swinging their
long necks as if they werelame. Beyond Géz Abu Guma
appeared, more and more frequently, buffaloes and whole
herds of antelopes. The people of the caravan when they
lacked fresh meat hunted for them, but almost always in
vain, for the watchful and fleet animals would not allow
themselves to be approached or surrounded.

Provisions were generally scarce, as owing to the de-
population of the region they could not obtain either
millet or bananas, or fish, which in former times were
furnished by the Shilluk and Dinka tribes who exchanged
them willingly for glass beads and brass wire. Hatim,
however, did not permit the children to die of starvation,
and what is more he kept a strict control over Gebhr;

176 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

and once, when the latter at about bed-time struck Stas

while removing saddles from the camels, he ordered the
Sudanese to be stretched upon the ground and whipped
thirty times on each heel with a bamboo. For two days
the cruel Sudanese could walk only on his toes and cursed
the hour when he left Fayfim, and revenged himself upon
a young slave named Kali, who had been presented to
him.

Stas at the beginning was almost pleased that he had
left infected Omdurman and that he saw a country of
which he always had dreamed. His strong constitution
thus far endured perfectly the toils of the journey and
the abundant food restored his energy. Several times
during the journey and at the stops he whispered to his
little sister that it was possible to escape even from beyond
the White Nile, and that he did not at all abandon that de-
sign. But her health disquieted him. Three weeks after
the day of their departure from OmdurmAén Nell had not in-
deed succumbed to the fever, but her face grew thinner and
instead of being tanned it became more and more trans-
parent, and her little hands looked as if they were moulded
of wax. She did not lack care and even such comforts
as Stas and Dinah with the aid of Hatim could provide,
but she lacked the salubrious desert air. The moist and
torrid climate united with the hardships of the journey
more and more undermined the strength of the child.

Stas, beginning at Géz Abu Guma, gave her daily a half
powder of quinine and worried terribly at the thought
that this remedy, which could be obtained nowhere later,
would not last him long. But it could not be helped, for
it was necessary above all things to prevent the fever.
At moments despair possessed him. He deluded himself,
however, with the hope that Smain, if he desired to ex-
change them for his own children, would have to seek

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS Weg

for them a more salubrious place than the neighborhood
of Fashoda.

But misfortune seemed continually to pursue its vic-
tims. On the day before the arrival at Fashoda, Dinah,
who while in Omdurman felt weak, fainted suddenly at
the untying of the small luggage with Nell’s things taken
from Fayiim, and fell from the camel. Stas and Chamis
revived her with the greatest difficulty. She did not,
however, regain consciousness, or rather she regained it
at the evening only to bid a tearful farewell to her be-
loved little lady, and to die. After her death Gebhr
insisted upon cutting off her ears in order to show them
to Smain as proof that she died during the journey, and
to demand of him a separate payment for her abduction.
This was done with a slave who expired during the jour-
ney. But Hatim, at the entreaties of Stas and Nell, would
not consent to this; so they buried her decently and her
mound was safeguarded against hyenas with the assistance
of stones and thorns. The children felt yet more lonely for
they realized that in her they had lost the only near and
devoted soul. This was a terrible blow, particularly for
Nell, so Stas endeavored to comfort her throughout the
whole night and the following day.

The sixth week of the journey arrived. On the next
day at noon the caravan reached Fashoda, but they
found only a pyre. The Mahdists bivouacked under the
bare heaven or in huts hurriedly built of grass and boughs.
Three days previously the settlement had been burnt
down. There remained only the clay walls of the round
hovels, blackened with smoke, and, standing close by
the water, a great wooden shed, which during the Egyptian
times served as a storage-place for ivory; in it at present
lived the commander of the dervishes, Emir Seki Tamala.
He was a distinguished personage among the Mahdists,

178 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

a secret enemy of Abdullahi, but on the other hand a
personal friend of Hatim. He received the old sheik and
the children hospitably, but immediately at the intro-
duction told them unfavorable news.

Smain was not in Fashoda. Two days before he had gone
southeast from the Nile on an expedition for slaves, and
it was not known when he would return, as the nearer
localities were so depopulated that it was necessary to
seek for human chattels very far. Near Fashoda, indeed,
lay Abyssinia, with which the dervishes likewise waged
war. But Smain having only three hundred men did
not dare to cross its borders, guarded vigilantly, at pres-
ent, by King John’s warlike inhabitants and soldiers.

In view of this Seki Tamala and Hatim began to deliber-
ate as to what was to be done with the children. The con-
sultation was held mainly at supper, to which the emir
invited Stas and Nell.

“T,” he said to Hatim, “must soon start with all the
men upon a distant expedition against Emin Pasha,}
who is located at Lado, having steamers and troops
there. Such is the command which you, Hatim, brought
me. Therefore you must return to Omdurman, for in
Fashoda there will not remain a single living soul. Here
there is no place in which to live, there is nothing to eat, and
sickness is raging. I know, indeed, that the white people
do not catch small-pox, but fever will kill those children
within a month.”

“T was ordered to bring them to Fashoda,” replied
Hatim, “so I brought them, and need not trouble myself

_ 1 Emin Pasha, by birth a German Jew, was after the occupa-
tion by Egypt of the region around Albert Nyanza, Governor of
the Equatorial Provinces. His headquarters were at Wadelai.
The Mahdists attacked it a number of times. He was rescued
by Stanley, who conducted him with a greater part of his troops
to Bagamoyo, on the Indian Ocean.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 179

about them any more. But they were recommended to
me by my friend, the Greek Kaliopuli; for that reason I
would not want them to perish.”

“ And this will surely happen.”

“Then what is to be done?”’

“Instead of leaving them in desolate Fashoda, send
them to Smain together with those men who brought
them to Omdurmfn. Smain went to the mountains, to
a dry and high region where the fever does not kill the
people as on the river.”

“ How will they find Smain?”

“By the trail of fire. He will set fire to the jungle,
first, in order to drive the game to the rocky ravines in
which it will be easy to surround and slaughter it, and
then in order to scare out of the thickets the heathens,
who hid in them before pursuit. Smain will not be hard
to find —”’

“Will they, however, overtake him?”

“He will at times pass a week in one locality to cure
meat. Even though he rode away two or three days ago
they surely will overtake him.”

“But why should they chase after him? He will return
to Fashoda anyway.’

“No. If the slave-hunt is successful, fe will take the
slaves to the cities to sell them — ”

“What is to be done?”

“Remember that both of us must leave Fashoda.
The children, even though the fever does not ill them,
will die of starvation.”

“By the prophet! That is true.”

And there really remained nothing else to do but to
despatch the children upon a new wandering life. Hatim,
who appeared to be a very good man, was only troubled
about this: whether Gebhr, with whose cruel disposition

180 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

he had become acquainted during the journey, would
not treat them too harshly. But the stern Seki Tamala,
who aroused fear even in his own soldiers, commanded
the Sudanese to be summoned, and announced to him
that he was to convey the children alive and in good
health to Smain, and at the same time to treat them
kindly, as otherwise he would be hung. The good Hatim
entreated the emir to present to little Nell a female slave,
who would serve her and take care of her during the
journey and in Smain’s camp. Nell was delighted greatly
with this gift as it appeared that the slave was a young
Dinka girl with pleasant features and a sweet facial
expression.

Stas knew that Fashoda was death, so he did not at all
beg Hatim that he should not send them upon a new
journey, the third in rotation. In his soul, he thought
also that riding in an easterly and southerly direction, he
must approach the Abyssinian boundaries and that he
might escape. He had a hope that upon the dry table-
land Nell would be safeguarded against the fever, and
for these reasons he willingly and zealously entered into
the preparation for the journey.

Gebhr, Chamis, and the two Bedouins also were not
opposed to the expedition, reckoning that at Smain’s
side they would succeed in capturing a considerable
number of slaves, and afterwards sell them profitably in
the markets. They knew that slave-dealers in time
amass great fortunes; in any case they preferred to ride
rather than to remain at that place under the immediate
control of Hatim and Seki Tamala.

The preparations, however, consumed considerable time,
particularly as the children had to recuperate. The
camels were unavailable now for this journey, so the
Arabs, and Stas and Nell were to ride on horseback. Kali,

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 181

Gebhr’s slave, and Nell’s maid, called Mea upon Stas’
suggestion, were to go on foot beside the horses. Hatim
also procured a donkey to carry a tent intended for the
little girl and provisions for three days for the children.
More Seki Tamala could not give them. For Nell, some-
thing in the nature of a ladies’ saddle, made of saddle-
cloth, palm, and bamboo mats was constructed.

The children passed three days in Fashoda to rest, but
the countless number of mosquitoes above the river made
their stay unendurable. During the daytime appeared
swarms of big blue flies, which did not indeed bite, but
were so vexing that they crept into the ears, filled the
eyes, and fell even into the mouths. Stas had heard
while in Port Said that the mosquitoes and flies spread
fever and an infection of the inflammation of the eyes.
Finally he himself entreated Seki Tamala to hurry the
expedition, particularly as the rainy spring season was
approaching.

XXI

“Sras, why are we riding and speeding and have not yet
reached Smain?”’

“T do not know. He undoubtedly is moving rapidly
ahead, in order to reach as quickly as possible the region
in which he can catch negroes. Are you anxious that we
should join his detachment?”

The little girl nodded her pale-yellow little head in
sign that she was very much concerned about it.

“Why should you be so anxious?” asked Stas.

“Because perhaps Gebhr will not dare in Smain’s com-
pany to beat that poor Kali so cruelly.”

“Smain probably is no better. They all have no mercy
for their slaves.”

Sis that sor ~

And two little tears coursed over her emaciated cheeks.

It was the ninth day of the journey. Gebhr, who was
now the leader of the caravan, in the beginning easily
discovered traces of Smain’s march. His way was in-
dicated by a trail of burnt jungle and camping grounds
strewn with picked bones and various remnants. But
after the lapse of five days they came upon a vast expanse
of burnt steppe, on which the wind had carried the fire
in all directions. The trails became deceptive and con-
fusing, as, apparently, Smain had divided his detachment
into ten or more small divisions, in order to facilitate
the surrounding of the game and the capture of pro-

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 183

visions. Gebhr did not know in which direction to go,
and often it happened that the caravan, after moving
long in a circle, returned to the same place from which it
started. Afterwards they chanced upon forests, and
after passing through them they entered upon a rocky
country where the ground was covered by smooth rocks
or small stones, scattered over the immense expanse so
thickly that the children were reminded of city pave-
ments. The vegetation there was scant. Only here and
there, in the crannies of rocks, grew euphorbias, mimosas,
and thorny and scrubby plants and, more infrequently
yet, a slender, light green tree, which Kali in the Kis-
wahili language called “m/’ti”’ and with the leaves of which
the horses were fed. In this locality little rivers and
streams were lacking, but fortunately from time to time
the rain began to fall, so they found water in the hollows
and excavations of the rocks.

The game was driven away by Smain’s detachment
and the caravan would have died of starvation, were it
not for a multitude of guinea-fowls which every little
while started from under the horses’ legs, and at evening
encumbered the trees so thickly that it was sufficient to
shoot in their direction to cause a few to fall to the ground.
In addition they were not timid and permitted a close
approach, and they rose so heavily and indolently that
Saba, rushing ahead of the caravan, seized and choked
some of them almost every day.

Chamis killed about a score of them daily with an old
shotgun which he had bartered from one of the dervishes
serving under Hatim during the trip from Omdurm4n to
Fashoda. He did not, however, have shot for more than
twenty charges and he became uneasy at the thought of
what would happen when the supply was exhausted.
Indeed, notwithstanding the scaring away of the game,

184 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

there appeared at times amidst the rocks herds of ariels,
beautiful antelopes common in all Central Africa, but it
was necessary to shoot at the ariels with the short rifle,
while they did not know how to use Stas’ gun and Gebhr
did not want to place it in his hands.

The Sudanese likewise began to grow uneasy at the
long journey. At times it occurred to him to return to
Fashoda, because in case he and Smain should miss each
other they might stray in wild regions in which, not to
speak of starvation, they were in danger of attacks of
wild animals, and savage negroes panting for revenge for
the hunt which had been despatched against them. But
as he did not know that Seki Tamala was preparing an
expedition against Emin, for the conversation about this
was not held in his presence, he was seized with terror at
the thought of appearing before the face of the puissant
emir, who had commanded him to convey the children
to Smain and had given him a letter addressed to him
and in addition had announced that if he did not acquit
himself properly of his duty, he would be hung. All of
this taken together filled his soul with bitterness and
rage. He did not dare, however, to revenge himself for
his disappointments upon Stas and Nell; instead the back
of poor Kali was covered with blood under the courbash.
The young slave approached his cruel master always
trembling and in fear. In vain he embraced his feet and
kissed his hands; in vain he fell upon his face before him.
The stony heart was not moved either by humility or
by groans, and the courbash gashed the body of the un-
happy boy upon the most trivial cause and often for
none whatever. At night his feet were placed in a wooden
board with an opening to prevent him from running
away. During the day he walked tied with a rope fast-
ened to a horse; this amused Chamis very much. Nell

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 185

shed tears over Kali’s plight. Stas’ heart raged and a
number of times he passionately interceded for him, but
when he perceived that this inflamed Gebhr still more,
he set his teeth and remained silent.

But Kali understood that those two interceded for him,
and he began to love them deeply with his afflicted heart.

For two days they rode in a stony ravine lined with
high steep rocks. From the stones heaped and scattered
in disorder it was easy to perceive that during the rainy
season the ravine was filled with water, but at present
its bed was entirely dry. On the walls, on both sides,
grew small patches of grass, a great many thorns, and
here and there even a tree. Gebhr directed his way by
this stony gullet because it went continually upwards;
so he thought that it would lead him to some eminence
from which he could descry smoke during the daytime
and Smain’s camp-fires at night. In some places the
ravine became so narrow that only two horses could go
side by side; in other places it widened into small, round
valleys, surrounded as if by high stone walls, on which
sat big baboons, playing with each other, barking, and
displaying their teeth at the caravan.

It was five o’clock in the afternoon. The sun already
lowered towards the west. Gebhr thought of a resting
place; he wanted only to reach some small valley in which
he could construct a zareba, that is, enclose the caravan
and horses with a fence of thorny mimosa and acacias,
for protection against attacks of wild animals. Saba
rushed ahead, barking at the baboons which at sight of
him shook uneasily, and all of a sudden disappeared in
the bend of the ravine. Echo repeated loudly his barking.

Suddenly, however, he became silent and after a while
he came rushing to the horses with hair bristling on his

back and tail curled under him. The Bedouins and Gebhr

186 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

understood that something must have frightened him,
but staring at each other and desiring to ascertain what
it could be, they proceeded farther.

But riding around a small bend, the horses shied and
stood still in one moment as if thunderstruck by the
sight which met their eyes.

On a fair-sized rock situated in the middle of the ravine,
which was quite wide at that place, lay a lion.

At most, a hundred paces separated him from them.
The powerful beast, seeing the riders and horses, rose on
his fore paws and began to gaze at them. The sun, which
now stood low, illumined his huge head and shaggy
breasts, and in that ruddy luster he was like one of those
sphinxes which ornament the entrances to ancient Egyp-
tian temples.

The horses began to sit upon their haunches, to wince
and draw back. The amazed and frightened riders did
not know what to do; so from mouth to mouth there
flowed only the fearsome and helpless words, “Allah!
Bismillah! Allah akbar!”

And the king of the wilderness gazed at them from
above, motionless as if cast of bronze.

Gebhr and Chamis had heard from traders, who came
to Egypt from the Sudan with ivory and gum, that lions
sometimes lie down in the paths of caravans, which, on
account of this, must turn aside. But here there was no
place which they could turn to. It behoved them per-
haps to turn about and fly. Yes! But in such case it
was a certainty that the dreadful beast would rush after
them in pursuit.

Again resounded the feverish interrogations:

“What is to be done?”

“Allah! Perhaps he will step aside.”

“No, he will not.”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 187

And again a silence fell. Only the snorting of the
horses and the quickened breathing of the human breasts
could be heard.

“Untie Kali!” Chamis suddenly exclaimed to Gebhr,
“and we will escape on the horses; the lion will first over-
take him, and kill him only.”

“Do that,” repeated the Bedouins.

But Gebhr surmised that in such a case Kali, in the
twinkling of an eye, would climb on the rocky wall and
the lion would chase after the horses; therefore another
horrible idea suggested itself to him. He would kill the
boy with his knife and fling his body ahead of him and
then the lion, dashing after them, would see on the ground
the bleeding corpse and stop to devour it.

So he dragged Kali by the rope to the saddle and had
already raised his knife, when in the same second Stas
clutched the wide sleeve of his jubha.

“Villain! What are you doing?”

Gebhr began to tug and, if the boy had seized him by
the hand, he would have freed it at once, but it was not
so easy with the sleeve; so he began to tug, and splutter
with a voice stifled with fury.

“Dog! if he is not enough, I shall stab you both! Allah!
I shall stab you! I shall stab you!”

And Stas paled mortally, for like lightning the thought
flashed through his mind that the lion chasing after the
horses above all might actually overlook Kali, and in
such case Gebhr with the greatest certainty would stab
them both in turn.

So pulling the sleeve with redoubled strength he shouted:

“Give me the short rifle! I will kill the lion!”

These words astonished the Bedouins, but Chamis, who
had witnessed Stas’ shooting in Port Said, began at once
1O.Cry:

188 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“Give him the rifle! He will kill the lion.”

Gebhr recollected at once the shots on Lake Karin
and in view of the horrible danger, assented. With great
haste he gave the boy the short rifle and Chamis, as quick
as a thought, opened the cartridge box, from which Stas
took a large fistful of cartridges, after which he leaped off
his horse, inserted the cartridges in the barrels, and moved
forward.

For the first few steps he was as though stupefied and
saw only himself and Nell with throats cut by Gebhr’s
knife. But soon the nearer and more horrible danger
commanded him to forget about everything else. He
had a lion before him! At the sight of the animal his
eyes grew dim. He felt a chill on his cheeks and nose,
he felt that he had feet as if made of lead and he could
scarcely breathe. Plainly he feared. In Port Said he
had read during the recitation time of lion-hunts, but it
was one thing to examine pictures in books and another
to stand eye to eye with the monster, who now gazed at
him as if with amazement, wrinkling his broad forehead
which resembled a shield.

The Arabs held the breath in their breasts, for never
in their lives had they seen anything like this. On the
one side was a small boy, who amid the steep rocks ap-
peared yet smaller, on the other a powerful beast, golden
in the sun’s rays, magnificent, formidable — “The lord
with the great head,’”’ as the Sudanese say.

Stas overcame with the whole force of his will the in-
ertness of his limbs and advanced farther. For a while
yet it seemed to him that his heart had leaped up into
his throat, and this feeling continued until he raised the
rifle to his face. Then it was necessary to think of some-
thing else. Whether to approach nearer or to fire at once;
where to aim. ‘The smaller the distance the surer the

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 189

shot — therefore nearer and nearer! — forty paces, too
many yet; — thirty! —twenty! Already the breeze car-
ried the pungent animal odor.

The boy stood.

“A bullet between the eyes, or it will be all over with
me,” he thought. “In the name of the Father and of the
Son —!”

And the lion rose, stretched his body, and lowered his
head. His lips began to open, his brows to contract over
his eyes. This mite of being had dared to approach too
closely — so he prepared for a leap, sitting with haunches
quivering on his hind legs.

But Stas, during the twinkling of an eye, perceived
that the bead of the rifle was in a direct line with the
forehead of the animal — and pulled the trigger.

The shot pealed. The lion reared so that for a while
he straightened out to his full height; after which he
toppled over on his back with his four paws up.

And in the final convulsions he rolled off the rock onto
the ground.

Stas for several minutes covered him with his rifle, but
seeing that the quivering ceased and that the tawny
body was stretched out inertly, he opened the rifle and
inserted another cartridge.

The stony walls reverberated yet with the thunderous
echo. Gebhr, Chamis, and the Bedouins could not at
once descry what had happened, as on the previous night
rain had fallen, and owing to the dampness of the weather
the smoke veiled everything in the narrow ravine. Only
when the smoke abated, did they shout with joy, and
wanted to rush towards the boy, but in vain, as no power
could force the horses to move ahead.

And Stas turned around, took in the four Arabs with
his gaze and fixed his eyes on Gebhr.

190 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS
“Ah! There has been enough of this!” he said through

his set teeth. “You have exceeded the measure. You
shall not torment Nell or any one else any more.”

And suddenly he felt that his nose and cheeks turned
pale, but this was a different chill, caused not by fright,
but by a terrible and inflexible resolution from which
the heart in the bosom becomes, for the time being, iron.

“Yes! It is imperative! These are mere villains,
executioners, murderers, and Nell is in their hands!”’

“You shall not murder her!”’ he repeated.

He approached them — again stood, and suddenly with
the rapidity of lightning raised the rifle to his face.

Two shots, one after the other, jarred the ravine with
an echo. Gebhr tumbled upon the ground, and Chamis
swayed in the saddle and struck his horse’s neck with
his bleeding forehead.

The two Bedouins uttered a horrified cry of consternation
and, springing from the horses, dashed at Stas. A bend
was not far behind them, and if they had run in the other
direction, which Stas in his soul desired, they could have
saved their lives. But blinded by terror and fury they
thought that they would reach the boy before he would
be able to change the cartridges, and cut him to pieces
with their knives. Fools! They ran barely a dozen paces
when again the ill-omened rifle cracked; the ravine re-
sounded with the echo of new shots and both fell with
faces on the ground, flouncing about like fishes taken out
of water. One of them, who in the haste was hurt the
least, raised himself and propped himself on his hands,
but at that moment Saba sunk his fangs in his throat.

And mortal silence ensued.

It was broken only by the moans of Kali, who threw
himself on his knees and, stretching out his hands, ex-
claimed in the broken Kiswahili tongue:

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 191

“Bwana kubwa! (Great master!) Kill the lion! Kill
bad people, but do not kill Kali!”’

Stas, however, paid no heed to his cries. For some time
he stood as if dazed; after which, observing Nell’s pallid
face and half-conscious eyes, opened widely from terror,
he ran towards her.

“Nell, do not fear! — Nell, we are free!”

In fact they actually were free, but astray in a wild,
uninhabited region, in the heart of the land of the Blacks.

ae
a ah oe j

PART SECOND

I

BEFORE Stas and the young negro dragged the slain Arabs
and the lion’s heavy body to the side of the ravine the
sun had descended still more and night was soon to fall.
But it was impossible to sleep in the vicinity of the corpses;
so, though Kali stroked his stomach and repeated, smack-
ing with his tongue, “Msuri niama” (good meat), Stas
did not permit him to busy himself with the “niama,”
and instead ordered him to catch the horses, which ran
away after the shooting. The black boy did this with
extraordinary skill. Instead of running after them in the
ravine, in which case they would have sped away farther
and farther, he climbed to the top and, shortening his
way by avoiding the bends, he intercepted the startled
steeds from the front. In this manner he easily caught
two; and two more he drove towards Stas. Only Gebhr’s
and Chamis’ horses could not be found, but at any rate
four remained, not counting the lap-eared creature,
loaded with the tent and things, who, in view of the tragic
occurrences, displayed a true philosophical calm. They
found him beyond a bend, cropping closely and without
any haste the grass growing on the bottom of the ravine.

The medium-sized Sudanese horses are accustomed
generally to the sight of wild animals, but they fear lions,
so it was with considerable difficulty that they were
led past the rock which was blackened with a puddle of
blood. The horses snorted, dilating their nostrils and

~s,

196 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

stretching their necks towards the blood-stained stones;
nevertheless, when the donkey, only pricking his ears a
little, passed by calmly, they also passed on. Night had
already fallen; they nevertheless rode over half a mile,
and halted only in a place where the ravine widened
again into a small amphitheatrical vale, overgrown with
dense thorns and prickly mimosa trees.

“Master,” said the young negro, “Kali will make a
fire — a big fire.”

And taking the broad Sudanese sword, which he had
removed from Gebhr’s corpse, he began to cut with it
thorns and even little trees. After building the fire, he
continued to cut until he secured a supply which would
suffice for the whole night, after which with Stas he pitched
the tent for Nell, under a steep perpendicular wall of the
ravine, and later they surrounded it with a semi-circular,
broad and prickly fence, or a so-called zareba.

Stas knew from descriptions of African travels that
travelers in this manner safeguarded themselves against
the attacks of wild animals. The horses could not be
placed within the fence; so the boy, unsaddling them and
removing the tin utensils and bags, only hobbled them so
that they should not stray too far in seeking grass or
water. Mea finally found water near-by in a stony cavity,
forming as it were a little basin under the opposite rocks.
There was so copious a supply that it sufficed for the
horses and the cooking of the guinea-fowls which were
shot that morning by Chamis. In the pack-saddles,
which the donkey bore, they also found about three pots
of durra, a few fistfuls of salt, and a bunch of dried manioc
roots.

This sufficed for a bounteous supper. Kali and Mea
mainly took advantage of it. The young negro whom
Gebhr had starved in a cruel manner ate such an amount

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 197

of food as would have sated two men. But for this
he was grateful with his whole heart to his new master
and mistress, and immediately after supper he fell on
his face before Stas and Nell in token that he desired to
remain their slave to the end of his life, and afterwards
he also prostrated himself with due humility before Stas’
short rifle, understanding that it was the best policy to
conciliate so formidable a weapon. After this he an-
nounced that during the slumber of the “great master”
and the “bibi” he, alternately with Mea, would watch
that the fire should not go out, and squatted near it,
mumbling quietly something in the nature of a song, in
which every little while was repeated the refrain, “Simba
kufa, simba kufa,” which in the Kiswahili language
means, “The lion is killed.”

But the “great master” and the little “bibi” were not
inclined to sleep. Nell, at Stas’ urgent request, barely
swallowed a few pieces of guinea-fowl and a few grains of
boiled durra. She said that she did not care to eat or
sleep but only to drink. A fear seized Stas that she might
be suffering from fever, but he soon became satisfied that
her hands were cool and even too cold. He persuaded her
to enter the tent where he prepared bedding for her,
first searching carefully in the grass for scorpions. He
himself sat upon a stone with short rifle in hand to defend
her from attacks by wild beasts, if the fire did not afford
sufficient protection. He was beset by great fatigue and
exhaustion. In his soul he repeated to himself, “I killed
Gebhr and Chamis; I killed the Bedouins; I killed the
lion, and we are free.”’ But it was as if those words were
whispered to him by some one else and as if he himself did
not comprehend their full meaning. He had not a feeling
that they were free, but that something awful at the same
time had happened which filled him with uneasiness and

198 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

weighed upon his bosom like a heavy stone. Finally his
thoughts began to grow blunt. Fora long time he gazed at
the big moths hovering above the flame and in the end he
nodded and dozed. Kali also dozed, but awoke every
little while and threw twigs into the fire.

The night became dark and, what is a rare occurrence
under the tropics, very still. They could hear only the
cracking of the burning thorns and the hissing of flames
which illumined the overhanging rocks forming a semi-
circle. The moon did not shine into the depths of the
ravine, but above twinkled a swarm of unknown stars.
The air became so cool that Stas shook off his drowsi-
ness and began to worry whether the chill would not in-
commode little Nell.

But he became reassured, when he recollected that
he left her under the tent upon the plaid cloth, which
Dinah took with her from Fayfim. It also occurred to
him that riding continuously from the Nile upwards,
though imperceptibly, they must have ridden, through so
many days, quite high; therefore to a region which was
not threatened with fever as are the low river banks.
The penetrating night chill appeared to confirm this
supposition.

And this thought encouraged him. He went for a
moment to Nell’s tent to listen whether she slept peace-
fully; after which he returned, sat nearer the fire, and again
began to doze and even fell into a sound slumber.

Suddenly he was awakened by the growling of Saba,
who previously had lain down to sleep close by his feet.

Kali awoke also and both began to look about uneasily
at the mastiff, who, stretching out like a chord, pricked
his ears, and with quivering nostrils scented in the direc-
tion from which they had come, gazed fixedly at the same
time into the darkness. The hair bristled on his neck

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 199

and back and his breasts heaved from air which during
the growling he inhaled into his lungs.

The young slave flung dry twigs into the fire as
speedily as possible.

“Master,” he whispered. “Take the rifle! Take the
rifle!”

Stas took the rifle and moved before the fire to see
better in the dusky depth of the ravine. Saba’s growls
changed into barks. For a long time nothing could be
heard, after which, however, from the distance there
reached the ears of Kali and Stas a hollow, clattering
sound as if some great animals were rushing in the di-
rection of the fire. This sound reverberated in the still-
ness with an echo against the stony walls, and became
louder and louder.

Stas realized that a dire danger was drawing near.
But what could it be? Buffaloes, perhaps? Perhaps a
pair of rhinoceroses seeking an exit from the ravine? In
such case if the report of the shot did not scare them and
turn them back, nothing could save the caravan, for
those animals, not less ferocious and aggressive than
rapacious beasts, do not fear fire and tread under foot
everything in their way.

If, however, it should be a division of Smain’s forces
who, having encountered the corpses in the ravine, are
pursuing the murderers? Stas did not know which would
be better — a sudden death or new captivity? In addi-
tion it flitted through his mind that if Smain himself was
in the division, he might spare them, but if he was not,
then the dervishes would at once kill them or, what is
worse, torture them in a horrible manner before their
death. “Ah,” he thought, “God grant that these are
animals, not men!”

In the meantime the clatter increased and changed

200 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

into a thunder of hoof-beats until finally there emerged
out of the darkness glittering eyes, dilated nostrils, and
wind-tossed manes.

“Horses!”’ cried Kali.

In fact they were Gebhr’s and Chamis’ horses. They
came running, driven evidently by fright, but dashing
into the circle of light and seeing their fettered com-
panions, they reared on their hind legs; after which,
snorting, they implanted their hoofs in the ground and
remained for a while motionless.

But Stas did not lower his rifle. He was certain that
at any moment after the horses a shaggy-haired lion or
a flat-skulled panther would appear. But he waited in
vain. The horses quieted slowly, and what was more,
Saba after a certain time ceased to scent. Instead, he
turned about a few times on the spot as dogs usually do,
lay down, rolled himself into a ball and closed his eyes.
Apparently, if any rapacious animal had chased the
horses, then, having smelt the smoke or seen the reflec-
tion of the fire on the rocks, it had retreated into the
distance.

“Something must have frightened them badly,” Stas
said to Kali, “since they did not fear to rush by the
body of the lion and the men’s corpses.”

“Master,” answered the boy, “Kali can guess what
happened. Many, many hyenas and jackals entered the
ravine to get at the corpses. The horses ran before them,
but the hyenas are not chasing them, for they are eating
Gebhr and those others — ”

“That may be, but do you now unsaddle the horses;
remove the utensils and bags and bring them here. Do
not fear, for the rifle will protect you.”

“Kali does not fear,”’ answered the boy.

And pushing aside the thorns close by the rocks, he

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 201

slipped out of the zareba. In the meantime Nell came
out of the tent.

Stas rose at once and, pressing his nose close to her,
claimed his usual caress. But she, extending at first her
hand, withdrew it at once as if with aversion.

“Stas, what has happened?” she asked.

“Nothing. Those two horses came running up. Did
their hoof-beats awaken you?”

“T was awake before then and even wanted to come
out of the tent, but — ”’

“But what?”

“T thought that you might get angry.”

et Ab your.

And Nell raised her eyes and began to gaze at him with
a peculiar look with which she had never eyed him
before. Great astonishment stole over Stas’ face, for in
her words and gaze he plainly read fear.

“She fears me,” he thought.

And in the first moment he felt something like a gleam
of satisfaction. He was flattered by the thought that,
after what he had accomplished, even Nell regarded him not
only as a man fully matured, but as a formidable warrior
spreading alarm about. But this lasted only a short
time, for misfortune had developed in him an observing
mind and talent; he discerned, therefore, that in those
uneasy eyes of the little girl could be seen, besides fright,
abhorrence, as it were, of what had happened, of the
bloodshed and the horrors which she that day had
witnessed. He recalled how, a few moments before, she
withdrew her hand, not wishing to pat Saba, who had
finished, by strangling, one of the Bedouins. Yes! Stas
himself felt an incubus on his breast. It was one thing
to read in Port Said about American trappers, killing
in the far west red-skinned Indians by the dozens, and

202 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

another to accomplish that personally and see men, alive
a short while before, struggling in their death-throes, in
a pool of blood. Yes, Nell’s heart undoubtedly was full
of fear and at the same time aversion which would always
remain with her. “She will fear me,” Stas thought, “and
in the depths of her heart, involuntarily, she will not cease
holding it ill of me, and this will be my reward for all
that I have done for her.”

At this thought great bitterness swelled in his bosom,
for it was apparent to him that if it were not for Nell he
would either have been killed or would have escaped.
For her he suffered all that he had endured; and those
tortures and that hunger resulted only in this, that she
now stood before him frightened, as if she was not the
same little sister, and lifted her eyes towards him not
with former trustfulness, but with a strange fear. Stas
suddenly felt very unhappy. For the first time in his life
he understood what it was to be moved to tears. In spite
of his will tears flowed to his eyes and were it not for the
fact that it did not under any circumstances become “a
formidable warrior” to weep, he might perhaps have shed
tears.

He restrained himself, however, and, turning to the
little girl, asked:

“Do you fear, Nell?”

And she replied in a low voice:

“Somehow — it is so horrible!”

At this Stas ordered Kali to bring the saddle-cloths from
a saddle and, covering with one of them a rock on which he
had previously dozed, he spread the other upon the ground
and said:

“Sit here beside me near the fire. How chilly the night
is! If sleep overcomes you, rest your head upon me and
you will fall asleep.”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 203

But Nell repeated:

“Somehow — it is so horrible!”’

Stas wrapped her carefully in plaids and for some time
they sat in silence, supporting each other and illuminated
by a rosy luster which crept over the rocks and sparkled
on the mica plates with which the stony fissures were
bespangled.

Beyond the zareba could be heard the snorting of horses
and the crunching of grass in their teeth.

“Listen, Nell,’ Stas spoke out. “I had to do that —
Gebhr threatened that he would stab us both if the lion
would not be content with Kali and should continue to
pursue them. Didn’t you hear him? Think of it; he
threatened by that not only me, but you. And he would
have done it. I tell you sincerely that if it were not for
that threat, though formerly I already was thinking of
it, I would not have shot at them. I think I could not —
But he exceeded the measure. You saw how cruelly
before that time he treated Kali. And Chamis? How
vilely he betrayed us. Besides, do you know what would
have happened if they did not find Smain? Gebhr would
likewise have vented his anger upon us — upon you. It is
dreadful to think that he would have whipped you daily
with the courbash, and would have tortured us both to
death, and after our death he would return to Fashoda
and say that we died of fever. Nell, I did not do that
from fiendishness, but I had to think of this, how to save
you — I was concerned only about you — ”

And his face plainly reflected that affliction which
overflowed in his heart. Nell evidently understood
this, as she pressed yet more closely to him, while he,
momentarily mastering his emotions, continued thus:

“T, of course, shall not change, and shall guard and
watch over you as before. As long as they lived there

204 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

was no hope of rescue. Now we may fly to Abyssinia.
The Abyssinians are black and wild, but Christians and
foes of the dervishes. If you only retain your health, we
shall succeed, for it is not so very far to Abyssinia. And
even though we do not succeed, though we fall into
Smain’s hand, do not think that he will revenge himself
upon us. He never in his life saw either Gebhr or the
Bedouins; he knew only Chamis, but what was Chamis
to him? Besides, we need not tell Smain that Chamis
was with us. If we succeed in reaching Abyssinia, then
we are saved, and if not, you will not fare any worse, but
better, for tyrants worse than those men probably cannot
be found in the world. Do not fear me, Nell.”

And desiring to win her confidence and at the same time
cheer her, he began to stroke her little yellow head. The
little maid listened, raising timidly her eyes to him.
Evidently she wanted to say something but hesitated
and feared. Finally she leaned her head so that her hair
entirely covered her face and asked in a yet lower and
slightly quivering voice:

fT 3 Stas eee 3)

“What is it, dear?’”’

“They will not come here?”’

“Who?” Stas asked with amazement.

“Those — killed.”

“What are you talking about, Nell?”

“T am afraid! I am afraid!”

And her pallid lips began to quiver.

Silence ensued. Stas did not believe that the slain
could rise from the dead, but as it was night and their
bodies lay not far away, he became depressed in spirit; a
chill passed over his back.

“What are you saying, Nell?’ he repeated. “Then
Dinah taught you to fear ghosts —— The dead do not —”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 205

And he did not finish, for at that moment something
awe-inspiring occurred. Amid the stillness of the night,
in the depths of the ravine, from the direction in which the
corpses lay suddenly resounded a kind of inhuman, fright-
ful laughter in which quivered despair, and joy, and
cruelty, and suffering, and pain, and sobbing, and deri-
sion; the heart-rending and spasmodic laughter of the
insane or condemned.

Nell screamed, and with her whole strength embraced
Stas with her arms. Stas’ hair stood on end. Saba
started up suddenly and began to growl.

But Kali, sitting at some distance, quietly raised his
head and said almost gleefully:

“Those are hyenas gloating over Gebhr and the lion —”’

II

THE great events of the preceding day and the sensa-
tions of the night so tired out Stas and Nell that when
finally slumber overcame them they fell into a deep sleep,
and the little girl did not appear outside the tent until
about noon-time. Stas rose somewhat earlier from a
saddle-cloth spread near the camp-fire, and in expectation
of his little companion he ordered Kali to prepare a break-
fast, which in view of the late hour was to form at the
same time their dinner.

The bright light of the day dispelled the terrors of the
night; both awoke not only well rested, but refreshed
in spirit. Nell looked better and felt stronger. As both
wanted to ride away as far as possible from the place
where the slain Sudd4nese were lying, immediately after
the refreshments they mounted their horses and moved
ahead.

At that time of the day all travelers in Africa stop
for the noon rest, and even caravans composed of negroes
seek shelter under the shade of great trees; for they are
the so-called white hours, hours of heat and silence, dur-
ing which the sun broils unmercifully and, looking from
above, seems to seek whom to slay. Every beast at such
times burrows itself in the greatest thicket, the song of
birds ceases, the buzz of insects stops, and all nature falls
into silence, secreting itself as if desirous of guarding
against the eye of a wicked divinity. But they rode on in

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 207

the ravine in which one of the walls cast a deep shadow,
enabling them to proceed without exposing themselves to
the scorching heat. Stas did not want to leave the
ravine, firstly, because, above, they might be espied from
a distance by Smain’s detachments, and then it was
easier to find, in rocky crevices, water, which in un-
covered places soaked into the ground or under the in-
fluence of the sun’s rays was transformed into steam.

The road continuously but imperceptibly led upwards.
On the rocky walls could be seen from time to time yellow
traces of sulphur. The water in the clefts was saturated with
its odor, which reminded both children unpleasantly of
Omdurm4n and the Mahdists, who smeared their heads
with fat mixed with sulphur powder. In some places
muskcats could be smelt; but there, where from high,
overhanging rocks magnificent cascades of lianas fell to
the bottom of the ravine, came an intoxicating scent of
vanilla. The little wanderers willingly stopped in the
shade of these tapestries embroidered with purple flowers
and lilies, which with the leaves provided food for the
horses.

Animals could not be seen; only from time to time on
the crests of rocks monkeys squatted, resembling on the
blue background those fantastic idols which in India
adorn the borders of temples. Big males with long manes
displayed their teeth at Saba or stretched out their jaws
in sign of amazement and rage, and at the same time
jumped about, blinking with their eyes and scratching
their sides. But Saba, accustomed already to the sight of
them, did not pay much heed to their menaces.

They rode briskly. Joy at recovering liberty drove
away from Stas’ breast that incubus which had throttled
him during the night. His mind was now occupied with
the thought of what was to be done farther; how to lead

208 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Nell and himself from a locality in which they were
threatened by new captivity with the dervishes; what
measures to adopt during the long journey through the
wilderness in order not to die of hunger and thirst, and
finally, whither to go? He knew already from Hatim
that the Abyssinian boundary in a direct line from Fa-
shoda was not more than five days’ journey, and he calcu-
lated that this would be about one hundred English
miles. Now from their departure from Fashoda almost
two weeks had elapsed; so it was clear that they had not
gone by the shortest route, but in seeking Smain must
have turned considerably towards the south. He recol-
lected that on the sixth day they crossed a river which
was not the Nile, and that afterwards, before the country
began to rise, they rode around great swamps. At school
in Port Said, the geography of Africa was taught very
thoroughly and in Stas’ memory remained the name of
Ballor, designating an expansion of the little-known river
Sobat, a tributary of the Nile. He was not indeed certain
whether they had passed that expansion, but assumed that
they had. It occurred to him that Smain, desiring to
capture slaves, could not seek for them directly west of
Fashoda, as that country was already entirely depopu-
lated by dervishes and small-pox; but that he would
have to go to localities which heretofore were not visited
by an expedition. Stas deduced from this that they were
following Smain’s trail, and the thought frightened him
in the first moments.

He therefore reflected whether it would not be better
to abandon the ravine which turned more and more
plainly towards the south and go directly eastward.
But after a moment’s consideration he relinquished the
plan. On the contrary, to follow the tracks of Smain’s
band at two or three days’ distance appeared to him

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 209

to be the safest course as it was very improbable that
Smain would return with his human wares by way of
the same circuitous route instead of making his way
directly for the Nile. Stas understood also that Abys-
sinia could be reached only from the southern side where
that country borders on a great wilderness and not from
the eastern boundary which was carefully guarded by
dervishes.

As a result of these thoughts he determined to venture
as far as possible towards the south. They might en-
counter negroes, either refugees from the banks of the
White Nile or natives. But of the two evils Stas preferred
to have dealings with the blacks rather than with Mahdists.
He reckoned too that in the event of meeting refugees
or natives Kali and Mea might prove useful. It was
enough to glance at the young negress to surmise that
she belonged to the Dinka or Shilluk tribe, for she had
uncommonly long and thin limbs, so characteristic of
both of those tribes, dwelling on the banks of the Nile
and wading like cranes and storks, during its inundation.
Kali, on the other hand, though under Gebhr’s hand he
became like a skeleton, had an entirely different stature.
He was short and thick and strongly built; he had power-
ful shoulders and his feet in comparison with Mea’s feet
were relatively small.

As he did not speak Arabian at all and spoke poorly
the Kiswahili language with which one can converse
almost anywhere in Africa and which Stas had learned
fairly well from the natives of Zanzibar, working on the
Canal, it was evident that he came from some distant
region.

Stas determined to sound him upon this point.

“Kali, what is the name of your people?” he asked.

“Wahima,” answered the young negro.

210 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“Ts that a great nation?”

“Great, which is making war upon the bad Samburus
and takes their cattle.”

“Ts that country like this?”

“No. There are mountains and great water.”

“ How is that water called?”

“We call it ‘The Dark Water.’ ”’

Stas thought that the boy might come from the neigh-
borhood of the Albert Nyanza, which up to that time
had been in the hands of Emin Pasha; so, desiring to
confirm this, he asked further:

“Does not a white chief live there who has black smok-
ing boats and troops?”

“No, the old men with us say that they saw white men,
(here Kali parted his fingers) one, two, three. Yes. There
were three of them in long white dresses. They were
looking for tusks. Kali did not see them for he was not
in the world, but Kali’s father received them and gave
them many cows.”

“What is your father?”

“The king of Wahima.”’

Stas was flattered a little by the idea that he had a
Prince Royal for a servant.

“Would you like to see your father?”

“Kali wants to see his mother.”

“What would you do if we met the Wahimas, and
what would they do?”

“The Wahimas would fall on their faces before Kali.”

“Lead us to them; then you shall remain with them
and rule after your father, and we will go farther to the
sea.”

“Kali cannot find the way to them, and cannot remain,
for Kali loves the great master and the daughter of the
moon. ”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 211

Stas turned merrily to his companion and said:

“Nell, you have become the daughter of the moon.”’

But, glancing at her, he saddened suddenly, for it oc-
curred to him that the emaciated girl actually ldoked
with her pale and transparent countenance more like
a lunar than an earthly being.

The young negro became silent for a while; then he
repeated:

“Kali loves Bwana kubwa, for Bwana kubwa did.
not kill Kali, only Gebhr, and gives Kali a great deal
to eat.”

And he began to stroke his breast, repeating with
evident delight:

“A great deal of meat! a great deal of meat

Stas wanted to ascertain how Kali became the slave
of the dervishes; it appeared that from the night when
he was caught in a pit, dug for zebras, he had gone
through so many hands that Stas could not tell from
his statements what countries he had passed through
and by what route he had been conducted to Fashoda.
Stas was much impressed by what he said about the
“dark water,” for if he came from the region of Albert
Nyanza, Albert Edward Nyanza, or even Victoria Nyanza,
near which lay the kingdoms of the Unyoro and the
Uganda, he would undoubtedly have heard something
about Emin Pasha, about his troops, and about the
steamers, which aroused the wonder and fear of the
negroes. Tanganyika was too far away; there remained
only the supposition that Kali’s nation had its seat some-
where nearer. For this reason their meeting with the
Wahimas was not an utter improbability.

After a few hours’ ride, the sun began to descend. The
heat decreased considerably. They chanced upon a
wide valley in which they found water and a score.or

!??

212 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

more of wild fig trees. So they stopped to rest their
horses and partake of provisions. As the rocky walls at
that place were lower, Stas ordered Kali to climb to the
top and ascertain whether smoke could not be seen in the
vicinity.

Kali complied with the order and in the twinkling of
an eye reached the edge of the rocks. Peering around
carefully in all directions he slid down a thick liana stalk
and announced that there was no smoke, but that there
were “niama.” It was easy to surmise that he was
speaking not of guinea-fowl but of some bulkier game,
for he pointed at Stas’ short rifle and afterwards put
his fingers on his head to indicate horned game.

Stas in turn climbed up and, leaning his head carefully
over the edge, began to look ahead. Nothing obstructed
his view of the expanse, as the old, high jungle was burnt
away and the new, which had already sprouted from the
blackened ground, was barely a few inches high. As far
as the eye could reach could be seen sparsely growing
great trees, with trunks singed by the fire. Under the
shade of one of them grazed a flock of antelopes which
from the shape of their bodies resembled horses, and
from their heads buffaloes. The sun penetrating through
the baobab leaves cast quivering bright spots upon their
brown backs. There were ten of them. The distance was
not more than one hundred paces, but the wind blew
from the animals towards the ravine, so they grazed
quietly, not suspecting any danger. Stas, desiring to
replenish his supplies with meat, shot at the nearest one,
which tumbled on the ground as if struck by lightning.
The rest of the flock ran away, and with them a great
buffalo, which he did not perceive before, as he lay hidden
behind a stone. The boy, not from necessity, but from
a sporting vein, choosing the moment when the animal

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 213

turned his side somewhat, sent a bullet after him. The
buffalo staggered greatly after the shot, drew in his
haunches, but rushed away, and before Stas was able to
reload disappeared in the unevenness of the ground.

Before the smoke blew away, Kali sat upon the ante-
lope and cut open its abdomen with Gebhr’s knife. Stas
walked towards him, desiring to inspect more closely the
animal, and great was his surprise when after a while the
young negro with blood-stained hands handed to him
the reeking liver of the antelope.

“Why are you giving me that?” he asked.

“Msuri, msuri! Bwana kubwa eat at once.”

“Eat it yourself,’ replied Stas, indignant at the
proposition.

Kali did not allow this command to be repeated, but
immediately began to tear the liver with his teeth, and
greedily gulp down the raw pieces; seeing that Stas gazed
at him with loathing he did not cease between one gulp
and another to repeat: “Msuri! msuri!”’

In this manner he ate over half of the liver; after which
he started to dress the antelope. He did this with un-
common quickness and skill, so that soon the hide was
flayed and the haunches were separated from the back-
bone. Then Stas, somewhat surprised that Saba was not
present at this work, whistled for him to come to a boun-
teous feast of the fore parts of the animal.

But Saba did not appear at all. Instead, Kali, who
was bending over the antelope, raised his head and said:

“The big dog ran after the buffalo.”

“Did you see him?” Stas asked.

“Kali saw.”

Saying this, he placed the loin of the antelope on his
head and the two haunches on his shoulders and started
for the ravine. Stas whistled a few times more and

214 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

waited, but seeing that he was doing this in vain, followed
Kali. In the ravine Mea was already engaged in cutting
the thorns for a zareba, while Nell, picking with her
little fingers the last guinea-fowl, asked:

“Did you whistle for Saba? He ran after you.”

“He ran after a buffalo which I wounded with a shot,
and I am worried,” Stas answered. “Those animals are
terribly ferocious and so powerful that even a lion fears
to attack them. Saba may fare badly if he begins a fight
with such an adversary.”

Hearing this Nell became alarmed and declared that
she would not go to sleep until Saba returned. Stas,
seeing her grief, was angry at himself because he had
not concealed the danger from her and began to comfort
her:

“T would go after them with the rifle,” he said, “but
they must now be very far away, and soon the night will
fall and the tracks will be invisible. The buffalo is badly
wounded, and I have a hope that he will fall. In any case
he will weaken through loss of blood, and if he should
rush at Saba, Saba will be able to run away. Yes! he
may return during the night, but he surely will return.”

Although he said this, he did not greatly believe his
own words, for he remembered what he had read of the
extraordinarily revengeful nature of the African buffalo,
which, though heavily wounded, will run about in a cir-
cuit and lie in ambush near a path over which the hunter
goes and afterwards attack him unexpectedly, pin him on
its horns, and toss him into the air. Something similar
might happen to Saba; not to speak of other dangers
which threatened him on the return to the camp during
the night.

In fact night soon fell. Kali and Mea put up a zareba,
built a fire, and prepared supper. Saba did not return.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 215

Nell became more and more worried and finally began
LO Cry.

Stas with difficulty persuaded her to lie down, promis-
ing her that he would wait for Saba, and as soon as the
day should break, he himself would search for the dog
and bring him back. Nell indeed entered the tent, but
at intervals she put out her little head from under its
folds, asking whether the dog had not returned. Sleep
overcame her only after midnight, when Mea came out
to relieve Kali, who watched the fire.

“Why does the daughter of the moon weep?” the
young negro asked Stas, when both lay down on the
saddle-cloths. “Kali does not want that.”

“She is sorry for Saba, whom the buffalo has surely
killed.”

“But perhaps he did not kill him,” replied the black boy.

After this they became silent and Stas fell into a deep
sleep. It was still dark, however, when he awoke, for the
chill began to incommode him. The fire was partly extinct.
Mea, who was to watch the fire, dozed and after a time
had ceased throwing fuel upon the flames.

The saddle-cloth on which Kali slept was unoccupied.

Stas himself threw brushwood onto the fire, after which
he shook the negress and asked:

“Where is Kali?”

For a time she stared at him unconsciously; afterwards
coming to her senses, she said:

“Kali took Gebhr’s sword and went beyond the zareba.
I thought he wanted to cut more brushwood, but he did
not return at all.”

“Did he go long ago?”

“ Long.”

Stas waited for some time, but as the negro did not re-
turn, he involuntarily propounded to himself the question:

216 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“Did he run away?”

And his heart was oppressed by the disagreeable feel-
ing which human ingratitude always arouses. Why! he
had interceded for this Kali and defended him when
Gebhr vented his rage upon him for whole days, and
afterwards he had saved the slave’s life. Nell was always
kind to him and had wept over his unhappy lot, and both
treated him in the best possible manner. Now he ran away!
He himself had said that he did not know in which direc-
tion the Wahima settlements were situated, and though
he would be unable to find them, he nevertheless ran
away. Stas again recollected those “African Travels”
in Port Said, and the narratives of travelers about the
stupidity of negroes, who, throwing away packages, run
away although in their escape they are threatened by
inevitable death. In fact, Kali, having as his only
weapon Gebhr’s Sudanese sword, must die of starvation,
or if he did not fall again into the captivity of the der-
vishes would become the prey of wild animals.

Ah! Ingrate and fool!

Stas then began to meditate over this; — how far more
dificult and vexatious the journey without Kali would
be for them, and how much heavier the work. To water
the horses and fetter them for the night, to pitch the tent,
build zarebas, watch during the journey that none of the
supplies and packets with things were lost, to flay and
dress the slain animals, all this for want of the young
negro was to fall upon him and he admitted in his soul
that as to some of these employments, flaying the hides
of animals, for instance, he did not have the slightest
knowledge.

“Ha! it will be hard,” he said, “but necessary.”

In the meantime the sun emerged from beyond the
horizon and, as usually happens in the tropics, in a

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 217

moment it was day. Somewhat later the water for bath-
ing, which Mea had prepared during the night for the
little lady, began to splash, which meant that Nell had
risen and was dressing herself. In fact, she soon appeared,
already dressed, with a comb in her hand and her hair
still unkempt.

“ And Saba?” she asked.

“He has not come yet.”

The lips of the little girl at once began to quiver.

“He may yet return,” said Stas. “You remember that
on the desert sometimes he was not seen for two days,
and afterwards he always overtook us.”

“You said that you would go and search for him.”

“T cannot.”

“Why; otas?”’

“T cannot leave you in the ravine alone with Mea.”

“And Kali?”

“ Kali is not here.”

Stas was silent, not knowing whether to tell her the
whole truth; but as the matter could not be concealed
he thought it best to divulge it at once.

“Kali took Gebhr’s sword,” he said, “and in the night
went away; I do not know where. Who knows whether
he has not run away? The negroes often do that, even
to their own destruction. I am sorry for him — But he
may understand that he has acted like a fool and — ”

Further words were interrupted by Saba’s joyful bark-
ing which filled the whole ravine. Nell threw the comb
on the ground and wanted to rush out to meet him. She
was prevented, however, by the thorns of the zareba.

Stas, with the greatest haste, began to scatter them about,
but before he had opened a passage Saba appeared and
after him Kali, as shiny and wet from the dew as if after
the greatest rain.

218 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Immense joy possessed both children, and when Kali,
out of breath from fatigue, came inside the enclosure,
Nell flung her white hands around his black neck and
hugged him with all her strength.

And he said:

“Kali did not want to see the ‘bibi’ cry, so Kali found
the dog.”

“Good boy, Kali!”’ answered Stas, slapping him on the
shoulders. “Did you not fear in the night that you
would meet a lion or a panther?”’

“Kali feared, but Kali went,” answered the boy.

These words gained still more the hearts of the chil-
dren. Stas, at Nell’s request, took out from one of the
small pieces of luggage a string of glass beads with which
they had been provided by the Greek, Kaliopuli, on their
departure from Omdurman; with it he decorated Kali’s
splendid throat; while the latter, overjoyed with the gift,
glanced at once with pride at Mea and said:

“Mea has no beads and Kali has, for Kali is ‘the great
world.’”’

In this manner was the devotion of the black boy re-
warded. On the other hand Saba received a sharp rebuke,
from which, for the second time in Nell’s service, he
learned that he was perfectly horrid, and that if he once
more did anything like that he would be led by a string
like a puppy. He heard this, wagging his tail in quite an
equivocal manner. Nell, however, claimed that it could
be seen from his eyes that he was ashamed and that he
certainly blushed; only this could not be seen because
his mouth was covered with hair.

After this followed breakfast, consisting of excellent
wild figs and a rump of venison. During the breakfast
Kali related his adventures, while Stas interpreted them
in English for Nell who did not understand the Kis-

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 219

wahili language. The buffalo, as it appeared, fled far.
It was difficult for Kali to find the tracks as it was a moon-
less night. Fortunately, rain had fallen two days before
and the ground was not too hard; in consequence of this
the heavy animal’s hoofs left deep imprints upon it.
Kali sought them with the aid of his toes and walked a long
distance. The buffalo finally fell and must have dropped
dead as there was no sign of a fight between him and Saba.
When Kali found them Saba already had devoured the
greater part of the fore quarter of the buffalo, and although
he was fully sated he would not permit the approach of
two hyenas and about a dozen of jackals, which stood
waiting until the more powerful rapacious creature
finished his feast and left. The boy complained that the
dog also growled at him, but he then threatened him with
the anger of the “great master” and the “bibi,” after
which he grabbed him by the collar and dragged him
from the buffalo, and did not let go of him until they
reached the ravine.

With this ended the narrative of Kali’s nocturnal ad-
ventures, after which all in good humor mounted their
horses and proceeded on their journey.

One alone, long-limbed Mea, though quiet and meek,
gazed with envy at the young negro’s necklace and Saba’s
collar, and with sorrow in her heart thought:

“Both of them are ‘the great world,’ and I have only
a brass ring on one leg.”

If]

Durine the following three days they rode continuously
in the ravine and always upwards. The days were as a
rule scorching, the nights alternately cool or sultry;
the rainy season was approaching. From beyond the
horizon here and there emerged clouds, white as milk
but deep and heavy. At the sides could already be seen
stripes of rain and distant rainbows. Towards the morn-
ing of the third day one of these clouds burst above their
heads like a barrel from which the hoops had flown off
and sprinkled them with a warm and copious rain which
fortunately was of brief duration. Afterwards the weather
became fine and they could ride farther. Guinea-fowls
again appeared in such numbers that Stas shot at them
without dismounting from his horse, and in this manner
got five, which more than sufficed for one meal, even
counting Saba. Travel in the refreshed air was not bur-
densome, and the abundance of game and water removed
fears of hunger and thirst. On the whole everything
passed more easily than they had anticipated. So then
good humor did not desert Stas, and, riding beside the
little girl, he chattered merrily with her and at times
even joked.

“Do you know, Nell,” he said, when for a while he
stopped the horses under a great bread-fruit tree from
which Kali and Mea cut off fruit resembling huge melons,
“at times it seems to me that I am a knight-errant.”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 221

“And what is a knight-errant?” asked Nell, turning
her pretty head towards him.

“Long, long ago in the medieval days there were
knights who rode over the world, looking for adventure.
They fought with giants and dragons, and do you know
that each one had his lady, whom he protected and
defended?”’

“ And am I such a lady?”

Stas pondered for a while, after which he replied:

“No, you are too small. All those others were grown
up.”

And it never occurred to him that probably no knight-
errant had ever performed as much for his lady as he had
done for his little sister. Plainly it appeared to him that
whatever he had done was done as a matter of course.

But Nell felt aggrieved at his words; so with a pout
she said:

“And you once said in the desert that I acted like a
person of thirteen. Aha!”

“Well, that was once. But you are eight.”

“Then after ten years I shall be eighteen.”

“A great thing! AndI shall be twenty-four! At such
age a man does not think of any ladies for he has some-
thing else to do; that is self-evident.”

“ And what will you do?”

“T shall be an engineer or a sailor or, if there is a war
in Poland, I shall go to fight, just as my father did.”

While she asked uneasily:

“But you will return to Port Said?”’

“We both must return there first.”

“To papa!’’ the little girl replied.

And her eyes were dimmed with sorrow and longing.
Fortunately there flew at that moment a small flock of
wonderfully fine parrots, gray, with rosy heads, and a

222 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

rosy lining under their wings. The children at once for-
got about their previous conversation and began to
follow the flight with their eyes.

The little flock circled about a group of euphorbias
and lighted upon sycamores, growing at some distance,
amidst the branches of which resounded voices similar
to a wordy conference or a quarrel.

“Those are parrots which are very easily taught to
talk,” Stas said. “When we stop at a place for a
length of time, I will try to catch one for you.”

“Oh, Stas, thank you!” answered Nell gleefully. “I
will call it Daisy.”

In the meantime Mea and Kali, having cut off fruit
from the bread-fruit tree, loaded the horses with it,
and the little caravan proceeded. In the afternoon it
began to cloud and at times brief showers occurred,
filling the crevices and the depressions in the earth. Kali
predicted a great downpour, so it occurred to Stas that
the ravine, which was becoming narrower and narrower,
would not be a safe shelter for the night, for it could change
into a torrent. For this reason he determined to pass the
night above, and this decision delighted Nell, particularly
when Kali, who was sent to reconnoitre, returned and
announced that not far away was a small grove composed
of various trees, and in it many monkeys, not as ugly as
the baboons which up to that time they had met.

Chancing thereafter upon a place at which the rocky
walls were low and sloped gradually, he led the horses
out, and before it grew dark they built a barricade for
the night. Nell’s tent stood on a high and dry spot close
to a big white-ant hillock, which barred the access from
one side and for that reason lessened the labor of building
the zareba.

Near-by stood a large tree with widely spread boughs

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 223

which, covered by dense foliage, furnished shelter against
rain. In front of the zareba grew single clumps of trees
and further a thick forest entangled with climbing plants,
beyond which loftily shot out crowns of strange palm
trees resembling gigantic fans or outspread peacock tails.

Stas learned from Kali that before the second rainy
season, that is, in autumn, it was dangerous to pass the
night under these palm trees, for the huge fruit, at that
time ripe, breaks off unexpectedly and falls from a con-
siderable distance with such force that it can kill a person
or even a horse. At present, however, the fruit was in
bud, and in the distance before the sun set there could
be seen, under the crowns, agile little monkeys, which,
leaping gaily, chased each other.

Stas, with Kali, prepared a great supply of wood, suffi-
cient for the whole night, and, as at times strong blasts of
hot air broke out, they reinforced the zareba with pickets
which the young negro whittled with Gebhr’s sword and
stuck in the ground. This precaution was not at all
superfluous, as a powerful whirlwind could scatter the
thorny boughs with which the zareba was constructed
and facilitate an attack by beasts of prey.

However, immediately after sunset the wind ceased,
and instead, the air became sultry and heavy. Through
the rifts in the clouds the stars glittered here and there,
but afterwards the night became so utterly dark that one
could not see a step ahead. The little wanderers grouped
about the fire, while their ears were assailed by the loud
cries and shrieks of monkeys who in the adjacent forest
created a veritable bedlam. This was accompanied by
the whining of jackals and by various other voices in
which could be recognized uneasiness and fright before
something which under the cover of darkness threatened
every living being in the wilderness.

224 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Suddenly the voices subsided for in the dusky depths
resounded the groans of a lion. The horses, which were
pastured at some distance on the young jungle, began to
approach the fire, starting up suddenly on their fettered
fore legs, while the hair on Saba, who usually was so brave,
bristled, and with tail curled under him, he nestled close
to the people, evidently seeking their protection.

The groaning again resounded, as though it came from
under the ground; deep, heavy, strained, as if the beast
with difficulty drew it from its powerful lungs. It pro-
ceeded lowly over the ground, alternately increased and
subsided, passing at times into a hollow, prodigiously
mournful moan.

“Kali, throw fuel into the fire,” commanded Stas.

The negro threw upon the camp-fire an armful of boughs
so hastily that at first whole sheaves of sparks burst out,
after which a high flame shot up.

“Stas, the lion will not attack us, will he?”’ whispered
Nell, pulling the boy by the sleeve.

“No, he will not attack us. See how high the zareba

is.
And speaking thus, he actually believed that danger
did not threaten them, but he was alarmed about the
horses, which pressed more and more closely to the fence
and might trample it down.

In the meantime the groans changed into the pro-
tracted, thunderous roar by which all living creatures are
struck with terror, and the nerves of people, who do not
know what fear is, shake, just as the window-panes rattle
from distant cannonading.

Stas cast a fleeting glance at Nell, and seeing her quiver-
ing chin and moist eyes, said:

“Do not fear; don’t cry.”

And she answered as if with difficulty:

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 220

199

“T do not want to cry — only my eyes perspire — oh!

The last ejaculation burst from her lips because at
that moment from the direction of the forest thundered a
second roar even stronger than the first for it was nearer.
The horses began to push upon the zareba and were it
not for the long and hard-as-steel thorns of the acacia
branches, they would have demolished it. Saba growled
and at the same time trembled like a leaf, while Kali
began to repeat with a broken voice:

“Master, two! two! two!”

And the lions, aware of each other’s presence, did not
cease roaring, and the horrible concert continued in the
darkness incessantly, for when one beast became silent
the other began again. Stas soon could not distinguish
from where the sounds came, as the echoes repeated them
in the ravine; rock sent them back to rock, they ascended
and descended, filling the forest and the jungle, and
the entire darkness with thunder and fear.

To the boy one thing seemed certain, and that was that
they approached nearer and nearer. Kali perceived
likewise that the lions ran about the encampment making
a smaller circle each moment, and that, prevented from
making an attack only by the glare of the flames, they
were expressing their dissatisfaction and fear by their
roar.

Evidently, however, he thought that danger threatened
only the horses, as, spreading his fingers, he said:

“The lions will kill one, two, not all! not all!”

“Throw wood into the fire,” repeated Stas.

A livelier flame burst forth; the roars suddenly ceased.
But Kali, raising his head and gazing upwards, began to
listen.

“What is it?” Stas asked.

“Rain,” replied the negro.

226 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Stas in turn listened. The branches of the tree mantled
the tent and the whole zareba so that not a drop of rain
fell upon the ground, but above could be heard the rustle
of leaves. As the sultry air was not stirred by the slightest
breeze, it was easy to surmise that it was the rain which
began to murmur in the jungle.

The rustle increased with each moment and after a
time the children saw drops flowing from the leaves,
similar in the luster of the fire to ruddy pearls. As Kali
had forecast, a downpour began. The rustle changed into
a roar. LEver-increasing drops fell, and finally through
the dense foliage whole streams of water began to pene-
trate.

The camp-fire darkened. In vain Kali threw whole
armfuls into it. On the surface the wet boughs smoked
only, and below, the burning wood began to hiss and the
flame, however much it was replenished, began to be
extinguished.

“When the downpour quenches the fire, the zareba will
defend us,” Stas said to pacify Nell.

After which he conducted the little girl into the tent
and wrapped her in plaids, but he himself went out as
quickly as possible as the briefly interrupted roars had
broken out again. This time they sounded considerably
nearer and as if they were gleeful.

The downpour intensified with each moment. The
rain pattered on the hard leaves and splashed. If the
camp-fire had not been under the shelter of the boughs,
it would have been quenched at once, but as it was there
hovered over it mainly smoke, amid which narrow, blue
little flames glittered. Kali gave up the task and did
not add any more deadwood. Instead he flung a rope
around the tree and with its aid climbed higher and
higher on the trunk.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 227

“What are you doing?” Stas asked.

“Kali climbs the tree.”

“What for?” shouted the boy, indignant at the negro’s
selfishness.

Bright, dreadful flashes of lightning rent the darkness
and Kali’s reply was drowned by a peal of thunder
which shook heaven and the wilderness. Simultaneously
a whirlwind broke out, tugged the boughs of the tree,
swept away in the twinkling of an eye the camp-fire,
seized the embers, still burning under the ashes, and car-
ried them with sheaves of sparks into the jungle.

Impenetrable darkness temporarily encompassed the
camp. A terrible tropical storm raged on earth and in
the sky. Thunder followed thunder, lightning, lightning.
The gory zigzags of thunderbolts rent the sky, black as
a pall. On the neighboring rocks appeared strange blue
balls, which sometimes rolled along the ravine and
then burst with a blinding light and broke out with
a peal so terrible that it seemed as if the rocks would be
reduced to powder from the shock.

Afterwards darkness again followed.

Stas became alarmed about Nell and went groping in
the darkness to the tent. The tent, protected by the
white-ant hillock and the giant tree-trunk, stood yet, but
the first strong buffet of the whirlwind might pull out the
ropes and carry it the Lord knows where. And the whirl-
wind subsided, then broke out again with a fury, carrying
waves of rain, and clouds of leaves, and branches broken
off in the adjacent forest. Stas was beset with despair.
He did not know whether to leave Nell in the tent or
lead her out of it. In the first case she might get entangled
in the ropes and be seized with the linen folds, and in the
_other she would get a thorough drenching and also would

be carried away, as Stas, though beyond comparison

228 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

stronger, with the greatest difficulty could keep on his
feet.

The problem was solved by the whirlwind which a mo-
ment later carried away the top of the tent. The linen
walls now did not afford any shelter. Nothing else re-
mained to do but to wait in the darkness in which the
lions lurked, until the storm passed away.

Stas conjectured that probably the lions had sought
shelter from the tempest in the neighboring forest, but
he was certain that after the storm they would return.
The danger of the situation increased because the wind
had totally swept away the zareba.

Everything was threatened with destruction. The
rifle could not avail for anything, nor could his energy.
In the presence of the storm, thunderbolts, hurricane,
rain, darkness, and the lions, which might be concealed
but a few paces away, he felt disarmed and _ helpless.
The linen walls tugged by the wind splashed them with
water from all sides, so, enclosing Nell in his arms, he led
her from the tent; after which both nestled close to the
trunk of the tree, awaiting death or divine mercy.

At this moment, between one blow of the wind and
another, Kali’s voice reached them, barely audible amidst
the splashing of the rain.

“Great master! Up the tree! up the tree!”

And simultaneously the end of a wet rope, lowered
from above, touched the boy’s shoulder.

“Tie the ‘bibi,’ and Kali will pull her up!” the negro
continued to shout.

Stas did not hesitate a moment. Wrapping Nell in a
saddle-cloth in order that the rope should not cut her
body, he tied a girdle around her; after which he lifted
her and shouted:

Paul”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 229

The first boughs of the tree were quite low so Nell’s
aerial journey was brief. Kali soon seized her with his
powerful arms and placed her between the trunk and a
giant bough, where there was sufficient room for half a
dozen of such diminutive beings. No wind could blow
her away from there and in addition, even although
water flowed all over the tree, the trunk, about fifteen
feet thick, shielded her at least from new waves of rain
borne obliquely by the wind.

Having attended to the safety of the little “bibi,” the
negro again lowered the rope for Stas, but he, like a cap-
tain who is the last to leave a sinking ship, ordered Mea
to go ahead of him.

Kali did not at all need to pull her as in a moment she
climbed the rope with skill and agility as if she were the
full sister of a chimpanzee. For Stas it was considerably
more difficult, but he was too well-trained an athlete not
to overcome the weight of his own body together with
the rifle and a score of cartridges with which he filled his
pockets.

In this manner all four found themselves in the tree.
Stas was so accustomed to think of Nell in every situa-
tion that now he was occupied, above all, in ascertaining
whether she was not in danger of falling, whether she
had sufficient room and whether she could lie down com-
fortably. Satisfied in this respect, he began to wrack his
brains as to how to protect her from the rain. But for this
there was no help. It would have been easy to construct
during the daytime some kind of roof over her head, but
now they were enveloped in such darkness that they
could not see each other at all. If the storm at last
passed away and if they succeeded in starting the fire
again, they might dry Nell’s dress! Stas, with despair,
thought that the little girl, soaked to the skin, would un-

230 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

doubtedly on the following day suffer from the first
attack of fever.

He feared that towards the morning, after the storm,
it would be as cool as it was on the previous night. Thus
far the wind was rather warm and the rain as though
heated. Stas was surprised at its persistence as he knew
that the more strongly a storm raged the shorter was its
duration.

After a long time the thunder abated and the buffets
of the wind weakened, but the rain continued to fall,
less copious, indeed, than before, but so heavy and thick
that the leaves did not afford any protection against it.
From below came the murmur of water as if the whole
jungle were transformed into a lake. Stas thought that
in the ravine certain death would have awaited them.
Immense sorrow possessed him at the thought of what
might have become of Saba, and he did not dare to speak
of him to Nell. He, nevertheless, had a slight hope that
the intelligent dog would find a safe haven among the
rocks projecting above the ravine. There was not, how-
ever, a possibility of going to him with any aid.

They sat, therefore, one beside the other amid the ex-
panding boughs, drenched and waiting for the day. After
the lapse of a few more hours the air began to cool and
the rain finally ceased. The water too flowed down the
slope to a lower place as they could not hear a splash or
a murmur. Stas had observed on the previous days that
Kali understood how to stir up a fire with wet twigs, so
it occurred to him to order the negro to descend and try
whether he would not succeed this time. But at the mo-
ment in which he turned to him something happened
which froze the blood in the veins of all four.

The deep silence of the night was rent suddenly by the
squeaking of horses, horrible, shrill, full of pain, fears, and

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 231

mortal dismay. Some mischief was afoot in the darkness;
there resounded short rattlings in the throat, afterwards
hollow groans, a snorting, a second squeak yet more
penetrating, after which all was quiet.

“Lions, great Master! Lions killing horses!” whis-
pered Kali.

There was something so horrible in this night attack,
in the superior force of the monsters, and in the sudden
slaughter of the defenseless animals that Stas for a time
was struck with consternation, and forgot about the
rifle. What, after all, would it have availed him to shoot
in such darkness? Unless for this, that those midnight
assassins, if the flash and report should frighten them,
would abandon the horses already killed, and start after
those which were scared away and had run from the camp
as far as their fettered legs would permit them.

Stas’ flesh began to creep at the thought of what would
have happened if they had remained below. Nell, nes-
tling close to him, shook as if she already were suffering
the first attack of fever, but the tree at least protected
them from an attack of lions. Kali plainly had saved
their lives.

It was, however, a horrible night — the most horrible
in the entire journey.

They sat like drenched birds on a twig, listening to
what was happening below. And there for some time
a deep silence continued, but soon came a peculiar sound
as though of lapping, smacking of torn-off pieces of flesh,
together with the horses’ heavy breathing and the groans
of the monsters.

The odor of the raw meat and blood reached up to the
tree, as the lions feasted not farther than twenty paces
from the zareba.

And they feasted so long that in the end anger seized

232 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Stas. He seized the rifle and fired in the direction of the
sounds.

But he was answered only by a broken, irritated roar,
after which resounded the cracking of bones, rattling in
powerful jaws. In the depths glared the blue and red
eyes of hyenas and jackals waiting for their turn.

And thus the long hours of the night passed away.

if

THE sun finally rose and illuminated the jungle, groups
of trees, and the forest. The lions had disappeared
before the first ray began to gleam on the horizon. Stas
commanded Kali to build a fire. Mea was ordered to
take Nell’s clothes out of the ‘leather bag in which they
were packed, to dry them, and to dress anew the little
girl as soon as possible; while Stas himself, taking his
rifle, proceeded to visit the camp and at the same time
to view the devastation wrought by the storm and the
two midnight assassins.

Immediately beyond the zareba, of which only the
pickets remained, lay the first horse almost half devoured;
about a hundred paces farther the second, barely touched,
and immediately behind him the third, disemboweled,
and with crushed head. All presented a horrible sight;
their eyes were open, full of settled terror, and their teeth
were bared. The ground was trampled upon; in the de-
pressions were whole puddles of blood. Stas was seized
with such rage that at the moment he almost wished that
the shaggy head of a marauder, sluggish after the noc-
turnal feast, would emerge from some cluster of trees
that he might put a bullet in him. But he had to post-
pone his revenge to a later time for at present he had
something else to do. It was necessary to find and cap-
ture the remaining horses. The boy assumed that they
must have sought shelter in the forest, and that the same

234 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

was true of Saba, whose body was nowhere to be seen.
The hope that the faithful companion in misfortune had
not fallen a victim to the predaceous beasts pleased Stas
so much that he gained more courage. His happiness
was yet augmented by the discovery of the donkey. It
appeared that the sagacious, long-eared creature did not
wish to fatigue himself by a too distant flight. He had
ensconced himself outside of the zareba in a corner formed
by the white-ant hillock and the tree and there, having
his head and sides protected, had awaited developments,
prepared in an emergency to repel an attack by kicking
heroically with his heels. But the lions, apparently, did
not perceive him at all, so when the sun rose and danger
passed away he deemed it proper to lie down and rest after
the dramatic sensations of the night.

Stas, strolling about the camp, finally discovered upon
the softened ground the imprint of horses’ hoofs. The
tracks led in the direction of the forest and afterwards
turned towards the ravine. This was a favorable cir-
cumstance for the capture of the horses in the ravine did
not present any great difficulties. Between ten and
twenty paces farther he found in the grass the fetters
which one of the horses had broken in his escape. This
one must have run away so far that for the time being
he must be regarded as lost. On the other hand, the
two espied by Stas were behind a low rock, not in the
hollow itself, but on the brink. One of them was rolling
about, while the other was cropping the new light-green
grass. Both looked unusually exhausted, as if after a
long journey. But the daylight had banished fear from
their hearts, so they greeted Stas with a short, friendly
neigh. The horse which was rolling about started to his
feet. The boy observed that this one also had freed him-
self from his fetters, but fortunately he apparently pre-

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 235

ferred to remain with his companion instead of running
away wherever his eyes should lead him.

Stas left both horses near the rock and went to the
brink of the ravine to ascertain whether a farther journey
by way of it was feasible. And he saw that owing to the
great declivity the water had flowed away and the bottom
was almost dry.

After a while his attention was attracted to a white
object entangled in the climbing plants in the recess of
the opposite rocky wall. It appeared that it was the top
of the tent which the wind had carried as far as that and
driven into the thicket so that the water could not carry
it away. The tent, at any rate, assured Nell of a better
protection than a hut hurriedly constructed of boughs;
so its recovery greatly delighted Stas.

But his joy increased still more when from a lower recess
partly hidden by lianas Saba sprang out, holding in his
teeth some kind of animal whose head and tail hung from
his jaws. The powerful dog, in the twinkling of an eye,
reached the top, and laid at Stas’ feet a striped hyena
with broken back and gnawed foot. After which he
began to wag his tail and bark joyfully as if he wanted
to say:

“T admit that I behaved like a coward before the lions,
but to tell the truth, you sat perched on the tree like
guinea-fowls. Look, however! I did not waste the night
altogether.”

And he was so proud of himself that Stas was barely
able to induce him to leave the bad-smelling animal on
the spot and not to carry it as a gift to Nell.

When they both returned a good fire was burning in
the camp; water was bubbling in the utensils in which
boiled durra grain, two guinea-fowls, and smoked strips
of venison. Nell was already attired in a dry dress but

236 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

looked so wretched and pale that Stas became alarmed
about her, and, taking her hand to ascertain whether she
had a fever, asked:

“Nell, what ails you?”

“Nothing, Stas; only I do want to sleep so much.”

“T believe you! After such a night! Thank God, your
hands are cool. Ah, what a night it was! No wonder
you want to sleep. Ido also. But don’t you feel sick?”

“My head aches a little.”

Stas placed his palm on her head. Her little head was
as cold as her hands; this, however, only proved great
exhaustion and weakness, so the boy sighed and said:

“Eat something warm and immediately afterwards
lie down to sleep and you will sleep until the evening.
To-day, at least, the weather is fine and it will not be
as it was yesterday.”

And Nell glaneed at him with fear.

“But we will not pass the night here.”

“No, not here, for there lie the gnawed remains of the
horses; we will select some other tree, or will go to the
ravine and there will build a zareba such as the world
has not seen. You will sleep as peacefully as in Port
Said.”

But she folded her little hands and began to beg him
with tears that they should ride farther, as in that horrible
place she would not be able to close her eyes and surely
would become ill. And in this way she begged him, in
this way she repeated, gazing into his eyes, “ What,
Stas? — Well?” so that he agreed to everything.

“Then we shall ride by way of the ravine,” he said,
“for there is shade there. Only promise me that if you
feel weak or sick, you will tell me.”

“T am strong enough. Tie me to the saddle and I will
sleep easily on the road.”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 237

“No. I shall place you on my horse and I shall hold
you. Kali and Mea will ride on the other and the donkey
will carry the tent and things.”

“Very well! very well!”

“Immediately after breakfast you must take a nap.
We cannot start anyway before noon. It is necessary to
catch the horses, to fold the tent, to rearrange the packs.
Part of the things we shall leave here for now we have
but two horses altogether. This will require a few hours
and in the meantime you will sleep and refresh yourself.
To-day will be hot, but shade will not be lacking under
the tree.”

“And you — and Mea and Kali? I am so sorry that
I alone shall sleep while you will be tiring yourselves —”’

“On the contrary, we shall have time to nap. Don’t
worry about me. In Port Said during examination time
I often did not sleep whole nights; of which my father
knew nothing. My classmates also did not sleep. But
a man is not a little fly like you. You have no idea how
you look to-day — just like glass. There remain only
eyes and tufts of hair; there is no face at all.”

He said this jestingly, but in his soul he feared, as by
the strong daylight Nell plainly had a sickly countenance
and for the first time he clearly understood that if it
continued thus the poor child not only might, but must,
die. At this thought his legs trembled for he suddenly
felt that in case of her death he would not have anything
to live for, or a reason for returning to Port Said.

“For what would I then have to do?” he thought.

For a while he turned away in order that Nell might
not observe the grief and fear in his eyes, and afterwards
went to the things deposited under the tree. He threw
aside the saddle-cloth with which the cartridge box was
covered, opened it, and began to search for something.

238 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS
He had hidden there in a small glass bottle the last of

the quinine powders and had guarded it like an “eye
in the head”’ for “the black hour,” that is, for the emer-
gency when Nell should be fever-stricken. But now he
was almost certain that after such a night the first attack
would come, so he determined to prevent it. He did
this with a heavy heart, thinking of what would happen
later, and were it not that it did not become a man and
the leader of a caravan to weep, he would have burst
into tears over this last powder.

So, desiring to conceal his emotion, he assumed a very
stern mien and, addressing the little girl, said:

“Nell, before you eat, take the rest of the quinine.”

She, on the other hand, asked:

“But if you catch the fever?”

“Then I will shiver. Take it, I tell you.”

She took it without further resistance, for from the
time he killed the Sudanese she feared him a little, not-
withstanding all his efforts for her comfort and the kind-
ness he evinced towards her. Afterwards they sat down
to breakfast, and after the fatigue of the night, the hot
broth of guinea-fowl tasted delicious. Nell fell asleep
immediately after the refreshment and slept for several
hours. Stas, Kali, and Mea during that time put the
caravan in order. They brought from the ravine the
top of the tent, saddled the horses, and put the packages
on the donkey and buried under the roots of the tree
those things which they could not take with them. Drow-
siness terribly assailed them at the work, and Stas, from
fear that they should fall asleep, permitted himself and
them to take short naps in turn.

It was perhaps two o’clock when they started on their
further journey. Stas held Nell before him; Kali rode
with Mea on the other horse. They did not ride at once

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 239

down the ravine, but proceeded between its brink and
the forest. The young jungle had grown considerably
during the rainy night; the soil under it, however,
was black and bore traces of fire. It was easy to surmise
that Smain had passed that way with his division, or that
the fire driven from far by a strong gale had swept over
the dry jungle and, finally encountering a damp forest,
had passed on by a not very wide track between it and
the ravine. Stas wanted to ascertain whether traces of
Smain’s camp or imprints of hoofs could not be found
on this track; and with pleasure he became convinced
that nothing resembling them could be seen. Kali, who
was well versed in such matters, claimed positively that
the fire must have been borne by the wind and that since
that time at least a fortnight must have elapsed.

“This proves,” observed Stas, “that Smain, with his
Mahdists, is already the Lord knows where, and in no
case shall we fall into his hands.”

Afterwards he and Nell began to gaze curiously at the
vegetation, as thus far they had not ridden so close to a
tropical forest. They rode now along its very edge in
order to have the shade over their heads. The soil here
was moist and soft, overgrown with dark-green grass,
moss, and ferns. Here and there lay decomposed trunks,
covered as though with a carpet of most beautiful orchids,
with flowers brightly colored like butterflies and brightly
colored cups in the center of the crown. Wherever the
sun reached, the ground was gilded by other odd orchids,
small and yellow, in which two petals protruding on
the sides of a third petal created a resemblance to the
head of a little animal with big ears ending abruptly.
In some places the forest was lined with bushes of wild
jasmine draped in garlands with thin, climbing plants,
blooming rose-colored. The shallow hollows and de-

240 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

pressions were overgrown with ferns, compressed into
one impenetrable thicket, here low and expansive, there
high, entwined with climbing plants, as though distaffs,
reaching up to the first boughs of the trees and spreading
under them in delicate green lace. In the depths there
was a great variety of trees; date, raffia, fan-palm, syca-
more, bread-fruit, euphorbia, immense varieties of senna,
acacia; trees with foliage dark and glittering and light
or red as blood grew side by side, trunk by trunk, with
entangled branches from which shot yellow and purple
flowers resembling candlesticks. In some groups the
tree-tops could not be seen as the climbing plants covered
them from top to bottom, and leaping from trunk to trunk
formed the letters W and M and hung in form of fes-
toons, portiéres, and whole curtains. Caoutchouc lianas
just strangled the trees with thousands of serpentine
tendrils and transformed them into pyramids, buried
with white flowers like snow. About the greater lianas the
smaller entwined and the medley became so thick that
it formed a wall through which neither man nor animal
could penetrate. Only in places where the elephants,
whose strength nothing can resist, forced their way,
were there beaten down in the thicket deep and winding
passageways, as it were.

The song of birds which so pleasantly enlivens the
European forest could not be heard at all; instead, on
the tree-tops resounded the strangest calls, similar to the
sound of a saw, to the beating of a drum, to the clatter of
a stork, to the squeaking of old doors, to the clapping of
hands, to caterwauling, or even to the loud, excited talk
of men. From time to time soared above the trees flocks
of parrots, gray, green, white, or a small bevy of gaudily
plumaged toucans in a quiet, wavy flight. On the snowy
background of the rubber climbing plants glimmered like

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 241

sylvan sprites, little monkey-mourners, entirely black with
the exception of white tails, a white girdle on the sides,
and white whiskers enveloping faces of the hue of coal.

The children gazed with admiration at this virgin
forest which the eyes of a white man perhaps had never
beheld. Saba every little while plunged into the thicket
from which came his happy barks. The quinine, break-
fast, and sleep had revived little Nell. Her face was
animated and assumed bright colors, her eyes sparkled.
Every moment she asked Stas the names of various trees.
and birds and he answered as well as he could. Finally
she announced that she wanted to dismount from the
horse and pluck a bunch of flowers.

But the boy smiled and said:

“The siafu would eat you at once.”

“What is a siafu? Is it worse than a lion?”

“Worse and not worse. They are ants which bite
terribly. There are a great many of them on the branches
from which they fall on people’s backs like a rain of fire.
But they also walk on the ground. Dismount from the
horse and try merely to walk a little in the forest and at
once you will begin to jump and whine like a monkey.
It is easier to defend one’s self against a lion. At times
they move in immense ranks and then everything gives
way to them.”

“And would you be able to cope with them?”

“T? Of course. With the help of fire or boiling water.”

“You always know how to take care of yourself,” she
said with deep conviction.

These words flattered Stas greatly; so he replied con-
ceitedly and at the same time merrily:

“Tf you were only well, then as to the rest depend
upon me.”

“My head does not even ache now.”

242 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“Thank God! Thank God!”

Speaking thus they passed the forest, but one flank
of which reached the hollow way. The sun was still
high in the heaven and broiled intensely, as the weather
cleared and in the sky not a cloud could be seen. The
horses were covered with sweat and Nell began to com-
plain of the heat. For this reason Stas, having selected
a suitable place, turned to the ravine in which the western
wall cast adeep shadow. It was cool there, and the water
remaining in the depressions after the downpour was also
comparatively cool. Over the little travelers’ heads
continually flew from one brink of the ravine to the other
toucans with purple heads, blue breasts and yellow wings;
so the boy began to tell Nell what he knew from books
about their habits.

“Do you know,” he said, “there are certain toucans
which during the breeding season seek hollows in trees;
there the female lays eggs and sits upon them, while the
male pastes the opening with clay so that only her head
is visible, and not until the young are hatched does the
male begin to peck with his long beak and free the mother.”

“And what does she eat during that time?”’

“The male feeds her. He continually flies about and
brings her all kind of berries.”

“And does he permit her to sleep?” she asked in a
sleepy voice. Stas smiled.

“Tf Mrs. Toucan has the same desire that you have at
this moment, then he permits her.”

In fact, in the cold ravine an unconquerable drowsiness
oppressed the little girl, as from morning until early in
the afternoon she had rested but little. Stas had a sincere
desire to follow her example, but could not as he had
to hold her, fearing that she might fall; besides, it was
immensely uncomfortable for him to sit man-fashion on

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 243

the flat and wide saddle which Hatim and Seki Tamala
had provided for the little one in Fashoda. He did not
dare to move and rode the horse as slowly as possible in
order not to awaken her.

She, in the meantime, leaning backwards, supported
her little head upon his shoulder and slept soundly.

But she breathed so regularly and calmly that Stas
ceased to regret the last quinine powder. He felt that
danger of fever was removed and commenced to reason
thus:

“The ravine continually leads upwards and even now
is quite steep. Weare higher and the country is drier and
drier. It is necessary only to find some sort of elevation,
well shaded, near some swift stream, and there establish
quarters and give the little one a few weeks’ rest, and
perhaps wait through the whole massica (the spring
rainy season). Not every girl could endure even one
tenth of these hardships, but it is necessary that she should
rest! After such a night another girl would have been
stricken with fever and she — how soundly she sleeps! —
Thank God!”

And these thoughts brought him into a good humor;
so looking down at Nell’s little head resting on his bosom,
he said to himself merrily and at the same time with
certain surprise:

“Tt is odd, however, how fond I am of this little fly!
To tell the truth, I always liked her, but now more and
more.”

And not knowing how to explain such a strange symptom
he came to the following conclusion:

“Tt is because we have passed together through so
much and because she is under my protection.”

In the meantime he held that “fly” very carefully
with his right hand around her waist in order that she

244 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

should not slip from the saddle and bruise her little nose.
They advanced slowly in silence; only Kali hummed
under his nose — a song in praise of Stas.

“Great master kills Gebhr, kills a lion and a buffalo!
Yah! Yah! Much meat! Much meat! Yah! Yah!”

“Kali,” Stas asked in a low tone, “do the Wahimas
hunt lions?”’

“The Wahimas fear lions but the Wahimas dig pits and
if in the night time the lion falls in, then the Wahimas
laugh.”

“What do you then do?”

“The Wahimas hurl lot of spears until lion is like a
hedgehog. Then they pull him out of the pit and eat
him. Lion is good.” And according to his habit, he
stroked his stomach.

Stas did not like this method of hunting; so he began
to ask what other game there was in the Wahima country
and they conversed further about antelopes, ostriches,
giraffes, and rhinoceroses until the roar of a waterfall
reached them.

“What is that?” Stas exclaimed. “Are there a river and
waterfall ahead of us?”

Kali nodded his head in sign that obviously such was
the fact.

And for some time they rode more quickly, listening
to the roar which each moment became more and more
distinct.

“A waterfall!” repeated Stas, whose curiosity was
aroused. :

But they had barely passed one or two bends when
their way was barred by an impassable obstruction.

Nell, whom the motion of the horse had lulled to sleep,
awoke at once.

“Are we already stopping for the night?”’ she asked.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 245

“No, but look! A rock closes the ravine.”

“Then what shall we do?”

“Tt is impossible to slip beside it for it is too close
there; so it will be necessary that we turn back a little,
get on top, and ride around the obstruction; but it is yet
two hours to night; therefore we have plenty of time. Let
us rest the horses a little. Do you hear the waterfall?”’

sas | do.’

“We will stop near it for the night.”

After which he turned to Kali, ordered him to climb
to the brink of the ridge and see whether, beyond, the
ravine was not filled with similar obstructions; he him-
self began to examine the rock carefully, and after a
while he exclaimed:

“Tt broke off and tumbled down not long ago. Nell, do
you see that fragment? Look how fresh it is. There is
no moss on it, nor vegetation. I already understand,
I understand!”

And with his hand he pointed at a baobab tree growing
on the brink of the ravine whose huge roots hung over
the wall and were parallel with the fragment.

“That root grew in a crevice between the wall and
the rock, and growing stronger, it finally split the rock.
That is a singular matter for stone is harder than wood;
I know, however, that in mountains this often happens.
After that anything can shake such a stone which barely
keeps its place, and the stone falls off.”’

“But what could shake it?”

“Tt is hard to say. Maybe some former storm, per-
haps yesterday’s.”

At this moment Saba, who previously had remained
behind the caravan, came running up; he suddenly stood
still as if pulled from behind by the tail, scented; after-
wards squeezed into the narrow passage between the wall

246 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

and the detached rock, but immediately began to retreat
with bristling hair. |

Stas dismounted from the horse to see what could
have scared the dog.

“Stas, don’t go there,” Nell begged; “a lion might
be there.”

The boy, who was something of a swashbuckler and
who from the previous day had taken extraordinary
offense at lions, replied:

“A great thing. A lion in daylight!”

However, before he approached the passageway, Kali’s
voice resounded from above:

“Bwana kubwa! Bwana kubwa!”

“What is it?” Stas asked.

The negro slid down the stalk of the climbing plant
in the twinkling of an eye. From his face it was easy to
perceive that he brought some important news.

“ An elephant!” he shouted.

“An elephant?”

“Yes,” answered the young negro, waving his hands;
“there thundering water, here a rock. The elephant
cannot get out. Great master kill the elephant and Kali
will eat him. Oh, eat, eat!”

And at this thought he was possessed by such joy
that he began to leap, slapping his knees with his palms
and laughing as if insane, in addition rolling his eyes and
displaying his white teeth.

Stas at first did not understand why Kali said that
the elephant could not get out of the ravine. So, desiring
to see what had happened, he mounted his horse and
entrusting Nell to Mea in order to have his hands free
in an emergency, he ordered Kali to sit behind him; after
which they all turned back and began to seek a place
by which they could reach the top. On the way Stas

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 247

questioned him how the elephant got into such a place
and from Kali’s replies he ascertained more or less what
had happened.

The elephant evidently ran before the fire by way of
the ravine during the burning of the jungle; on the way
he forcibly bumped against a loosened rock, which tumbled
down and cut off his retreat. After that, having reached
the end of the hollow, he found himself on the edge of a
precipice below which a river ran, and in this manner was
imprisoned.

After a while they discovered an outlet but so steep
that it was necessary to dismount from the horses and
lead them after. As the negro assured them that the
river was very near they proceeded on foot. They finally
reached a promontory, bounded on one side by a river, on
the other by the hollow, and glancing downward they
beheld on the bottom of a dell an elephant.

The huge beast was lying on its stomach and to Stas’
great surprise did not start up at the sight of them. Only
when Saba came running to the brink of the dell and
began to bark furiously did he for a moment move his
enormous ears and raise his trunk, but he dropped it at
once.

The children, holding hands, gazed long at him in
silence, which finally was broken by Kali.

“He is dying of hunger,” he exclaimed.

The elephant was really so emaciated that his spine
protruded, his sides were shrunken, his ribs were distinctly
outlined notwithstanding the thickness of his hide, and
it was easy to conjecture that he did not rise because
he did not now have sufficient strength.

The ravine, which was quite wide at its opening, changed
into a dell, locked in on two sides by perpendicular, rocks,
and on its bottom a few trees grew. These trees were

248 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

broken; their bark was peeled and on the branches there
was not a leaf. The climbing plants hanging from the
rocks were torn to pieces and gnawed, and the grass in
the dell was cropped to the last blade.

Stas, examining the situation thoroughly, began to
share his observations with Nell, but being impressed with
the inevitable death of the huge beast he spoke in a low
tone as if he feared to disturb the last moments of its life.

“Yes, he really is dying of starvation. He certainly has
been confined here at least two weeks, that is, from the
time when the old jungle was burnt. He ate everything
that there was to eat and now is enduring torments;
particularly as, here above, bread-fruit trees and acacias
with great pods are growing, and he sees them but cannot
reach them.”

And for a while they again gazed in silence. ‘The
elephant from time to time turned towards them his
small, languid eyes and something in the nature of a
gurgle escaped from his throat.

“Indeed,” the boy declared, “it is best to cut short
his pangs.”

Saying this, he raised the rifle to his face, but Nell
clutched his jacket and, braced upon both of her little
feet, began to pull him with all her strength away from
the brink of the hollow.

“Stas! Don’t do that! Stas, let us give him something
to eat! He is so wretched! I don’t want you to kill
him! I don’t want it! I don’t!”

And stamping with her little feet, she did not cease
pulling him, and he looked at her with great astonishment
and, seeing her eyes filled with tears, said:

“But, Nell! —”

“T don’t want it. I won’t let him be killed! I shall
get the fever if you kill him.”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 249

For Stas this threat was sufficient to make him forego
his murderous design in regard to the elephant before
them and in regard to anything else in the world. For
a time he was silent, not knowing what reply to make to
the little one, after which he said:

“Very well! very well! I tell you it is all right! Nell,
let go of me!”

And Nell at once hugged him and through her tear-
dimmed eyes a smile gleamed. Now she was concerned only
about giving the elephant something to eat as quickly
as possible. Kali and Mea were greatly astonished when
they learned that the Bwana kubwa not only would
not kil the elephant, but that they were to pluck at once
as many melons from the bread-fruit trees, as many
acacia pods, and as much of all kinds of weeds as they
were able. Gebhr’s two-edged Suddnese sword was of
great use to Kali at this labor, and were it not for that
the work would not have proceeded so easily. Nell, how-
ever, did not want to wait for its completion and when
the first melon fell from the tree she seized it with both
her hands and, carrying it to the ravine, she repeated
rapidly as if from fear that some one else might want
to supplant her:

Up ae 8 a th Fa

But Stas did not in the least think of depriving her
of this pleasure, but from fear that through too much
zeal she might fall over with the melon, he seized her by
the belt and shouted:

“Throw!”

The huge fruit rolled over the steep declivity and fell
close to the elephant’s feet, while the latter in the twink-
ling of an eye stretched out his trunk and seized it; after-
wards he bent his trunk as if he wanted to place the melon
under his throat and this much the children saw of him.

250 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“He ate it!” exclaimed the happy girl.

“T suppose so,” answered Stas, laughing.

And the elephant stretched out his trunk towards
them as if he wanted to beg for more and emitted in a
powerful tone:

“Hruumf!”’

“He wants more!”

“T suppose so!”’ repeated Stas.

The second melon followed in the track of the first
and in the same manner afterwards disappeared in a
moment a third, fourth, tenth; later acacia pods and
whole bundles of grass and great leaves began to fly
down. Nell did not allow any one to take her place,
and when her little hands grew tired from the work, she
shoved new supplies with her little feet; while the ele-
phant ate and, raising his trunk, from time to time trum-
peted his thunderous “hruumf” as a sign that he wanted
to eat still more, but Nell claimed that it was a sign of
gratitude.

But Kali and Mea finally were fatigued with the work
which they performed with great alacrity under the
impression that Bwana kubwa wanted first to fatten
the elephant and afterwards to kill him. At last, how-
ever, Bwana kubwa ordered them to stop, as the
sun was setting and it was time to start the construc-
tion of the zareba. Fortunately this was not a difficult
matter, for two sides of the triangular promontory
were utterly inaccessible, so that it was necessary only to
fence in the third. Acacias with big thorns also were
not lacking.

Nell did not retire a step from the ravine and, squatting
upon its brink, announced from a distance to Stas what
the elephant was doing. At frequent intervals her thin
little voice resounded:

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 251

“He is searching about with his trunk!”

Or: “He is moving his ears. What big ears he has!”

“Stas! Stas! He is getting up! Oh!”

Stas approached hurriedly and seized Nell’s hand.

The elephant actually rose, and now the children could
observe his immense size. They had previously seen
huge elephants which were carried on vessels through
the Suez Canal bound from India to Europe, but not
one of them could compare with this colossus, who actually
looked lke a huge slate-colored rock walking on four feet.
He differed from the others in the size of his tusks which
reached five or more feet and, as Nell already observed,
his ears, which were of fabulous proportions. His fore
legs were high but comparatively thin, which was un-
doubtedly due to the fast of many days.

“Oh, that is a Lilliputian!” laughed Stas. “If he
should rear himself and stretch out his trunk, he might
catch you by the feet.”

But the colossus did not think of rearing or catching
any one by the feet. With an unsteady gait he approached
the egress of the ravine, gazed for a while over the preci-
pice, at the bottom of which water was seething; after-
wards he turned to the wall close to the waterfall, directed
his trunk towards it, and, having immersed it as best he
could, began to drink.

“Tt is his good fortune,” Stas said, “that he can reach
the water with his trunk. Otherwise he would have died.”

The elephant drank so long that finally the little girl
became alarmed.

“Stas, won’t he harm himself?” she asked.

“T don’t know,” he replied, laughing, “but since you
have taken him under your care, warn him now.”

So Nell leaned over the edge and cried:

“Enough, dear elephant, enough!”

252 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

And the dear elephant, as if he understood what was
the matter, stopped drinking at once, and instead, began
to splash water over himself. First he splashed water
on his feet, then on his back, and afterwards on both sides.

But in the meantime it grew dark; so Stas conducted
the little girl to the zareba where supper already awaited
them.

Both were in excellent humor — Nell because she had
saved the elephant’s life and Stas because he saw her
eyes sparkling like two stars and her gladdened face
which was ruddier and healthier than it had been at any
time since their departure from Khartfim. A promise
of a quiet and perfect night also conduced to the boy’s
contentment. The two inaccessible sides of the promon-
tory absolutely secured them from attacks from those
directions, and on the third side Kali and Mea reared so
high a wall of thorny branches of acacias and of passion
flowers that there could be no thought of any predacious
beasts being able to surmount such a barrier. In addition
the weather was fine and the heavens immediately after
sunset were studded with countless stars. The air, which
was cool, owing to the proximity of the waterfall, and
which was saturated with the odor of the jungle and
newly broken branches, was agreeable to breathe.

“This fly will not get the fever here,’ Stas thought
joyfully.

Afterwards they commenced to converse about the
elephant, as Nell was incapable of talking of anything
else and did not cease going into transports over his
stature, trunk, and tusks, which in reality were prodig-
ious. Finally she asked:

“Honestly, Stas, isn’t he wise?”

“As Solomon,” answered Stas. “But what makes
you think so?”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 253

“Because when I asked him not to drink any more,
he obeyed me at once.”

“Tf before that time he had not taken any lessons in
English and nevertheless understands it, that really is
miraculous.”

Nell perceived that Stas was making merry with her,
so she gave him a scolding; after which she said:

“Say what you wish, but I am sure that he is very
intelligent and will become tame at once.”

“Whether at once I don’t know, but he may be tamed.
The African elephants are indeed more savage than the
Asiatic; nevertheless, I think that Hannibal, for instance,
used African elephants.”

“ And who was Hannibal?”

Stas glanced at her indulgently and with pity.

“Really,” he said, “at your age, you are not supposed
to know such things. Hannibal was a great Carthaginian
commander, who used elephants in his war with the
Romans, and as Carthage was in Africa, he must have
used African —”’

Further conversation was interrupted by the resounding
roar of the elephant, who, having eaten and drunk his
fill, began to trumpet; it could not be known whether
from joy or from longing for complete freedom. Saba
started up and began to bark, while Stas said:

“There you have it! Now he is calling companions.
We will be in a nice predicament if he attracts a whole
herd here.”

“He will tell them that we were kind to him,” Nell
responded hastily.

But Stas, who indeed was not alarmed, as he reckoned
that even if a herd should rush towards them, the glare
of the fire would frighten them away, smiled spitefully
and said:

254 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“Very well! very well! But if the elephants appear,
you won’t cry, oh no! Your eyes will only perspire as
they did twice before.”

And he began to tease her:

“T do not cry, only my eyes perspire —”’

Nell, however, seeing his happy mien, conjectured
that no immediate danger threatened them.

“When he gets tame,” she said, “my eyes will not
perspire, though ten lions should roar.”

Ct Why?”

“For he will defend us.”

Stas quieted Saba, who would not stop replying to the
elephant; after which he deliberated somewhat and
spoke thus:

“You did not think of one thing, Nell. Of course, we
will not stay here for ages but will proceed farther; I
do not say at once. On the contrary, the place is good
and healthy; I have decided to stop here—a week,
perhaps, — perhaps two, for you, and all of us as well, are
entitled to a rest. Well, very good! As long as we stay
here we will feed the elephant, though that will be a big
task for us all. But he is locked up and we cannot take
him with us. Well then, what later? We shall go and
he will remain here and again will endure the pangs of
hunger until he dies. Then we shall be all the more sorry
for him.”’

Nell saddened very much and for some time sat in
silence, evidently not knowing what reply to make to
these just remarks, but after a while she raised her head
and, brushing aside the tufts of hair which fell over her
eyes, turned her gaze, full of confidence, on the boy.

“T know,” she said, “that if you want to, you will get

him out of the ravine.”
ce I? 73

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 255

And she stretched out her little finger, touched Stas’
hand with it, and repeated:

ce Vay:

The sly little woman understood that her confidence
would flatter the boy and from that moment he would
ponder on how to free the elephant.

V

THE night passed quietly and though, on the southern
side of the sky, big clouds gathered, the morning was
beautiful. By Stas’ orders, Kali and Mea, immediately
after breakfast, began to gather melons and acacia pods
as well as fresh leaves and all kinds of fodder, which they
deposited upon the brink of the ravine.

As Nell firmly insisted upon feeding her new friend
herself, Stas cut for her from a young bifurcated fig tree
something in the shape of a pitchfork in order to make
it easier for her to shove down the supplies to the bottom
of the ravine. The elephant trumpeted from morn,
evidently calling for his refreshments, and when after-
wards he beheld on the brink that same little white being
who had fed him the previous day, he greeted her with a
joyful gurgle and at once stretched out his trunk towards
her. In the morning light he appeared to the children
still more prodigious than on the preceding day. He
was lean but already looked brisker and turned his small
eyes almost joyfully on Nell. Nell even claimed that his
fore legs had grown thicker during the night, and began
to shove fodder with such zeal that Stas had to restrain her
and in the end when she got out of breath too much, take
her place at the work. Both enjoyed themselves immensely ;
the elephant’s “whims” amused them especially. In
the beginning he ate everything which fell at his feet,
but soon, having satisfied the first cravings of hunger, he

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 257

began to grow fastidious. Chancing upon a plant which
was not to his taste, he beat it over his fore leg and after-
wards tossed it upwards with his trunk, as if he wanted
to say, “Eat this dainty yourselves;”’ finally, after having
appeased his hunger and thirst, he began to fan with his
prodigious ears with evident contentment.

‘““T am sure,” said Nell, “that if we went down to him
he would not hurt us.”

And she began to call to him:

“Elephant, dear elephant, is n’t it true you would not
do any harm to us?”

And when the elephant nodded his trunk in reply she
turned to Stas:

“There, you see he says ‘ Yes.’”’

“That may be,” Stas replied. “Elephants are very
intelligent animals and this one undoubtedly understands
that we both are necessary to him. Who knows whether
he does not feel a little gratitude towards us? But it
would be better not to try yet, and particularly not to let
Saba try, as the elephant surely would kill him. But with
time they become even friendly.”

Further transports over the elephant were interrupted
by Kali who, foreseeing that he should have to work every
day to feed the gigantic beast, approached Stas with an
ingratiating smile and said:

“Great master, kill the elephant, and Kali will eat him
instead of gathering grass and branches.”’

But the “great master”? was now a hundred miles from
a desire to kill the elephant and, as in addition he was
impulsive, he retorted:

“You are a donkey.”

Unfortunately he forgot the Kiswahili word for donkey
and said it in English. Kali, not understanding English,
evidently took it for some kind of compliment or praise

258 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

for himself, as a moment later the children heard how he,
addressing Mea, boastfully said:

“Mea has a dark skin and dark brain, but Kali is a
donkey.”

After which he added with pride:

“The great master himself said that Kaliis a donkey.”

In the meantime Stas, ordering both to tend the little
lady as the eye in the head and in case of any accident
to summon him at once, took the rifle and went to the
detached rock which blocked the ravine. Arriving at
the place he inspected it attentively, examined all its
cracks, inserted a stick into a crevice which he found
near the bottom, and carefully measured its depths; after-
wards he returned slowly to the camp and, opening the
cartridge box, began to count the cartridges.

He had barely counted three hundred when from a
baobab tree growing about fifty paces from the tent
Mea’s voice resounded.

“Master! Master!”

Stas approached the giant tree, whose trunk, hollowed
through decay near the ground, looked like a tower, and
asked:

“What do you want?”

“Not far away can be seen zebras, and further on ante-
lopes are feeding.”

“Good! I will take a rifle and go, for it is necessary
to cure meat. But why did you climb the tree, and what
are you doing there?”

The girl answered in her sad, melodious voice:

“Mea saw a nest of gray parrots and wanted to bring
a young one to the little lady, but the nest is empty, so
Mea will not get any beads for her neck.”

“You will get them because you love the little lady.”

The young negress came down the rugged bark as

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 259

quickly as possible, and with “ve glistening with joy
began to repeat:

“Oh! Yes! Yes! Mea loves her very much — and
beads also.”

Stas gently stroked her head, after which he took the
rifle, closed the cartridge box, and started in the direction
in which the zebras were pastured. After a half hour the
report of a shot reached the camp, and an hour later
the young hunter returned with the good news that he
had killed a young zebra and that the locality was full
of game; that he saw from a height besides zebras, a
numerous herd of ariel antelopes as well as a group of
water-bucks pasturing in the vicinity of the river.

Afterwards he ordered Kali to take a horse, and de-
spatched him for the slaughtered game, while he him-
self began to inspect carefully the gigantic baobab trunk,
walk around it, and knock the rugged bark with the barrel
of his rifle.

“What are you doing?” Nell asked him. He replied:

“Look what a giant! Fifteen men holding each other’s
hands could not encircle that tree, which perhaps remem-
bers the times of the Pharaohs. But the trunk at the
bottom is decayed and hollow. Do you see that opening?
Through it one can easily reach the middle. We can there
arrange a room in which we all can live. This occurred
to me when I saw Mea among the branches, and after-
wards when I stalked the zebra I was continually thinking
of it.”

“Why, we are to escape to Abyssinia.”

“Yes. INevertheless it is necessary to recuperate, and
I told you yesterday that I had decided to remain here a
week, or even two. You do not want to leave your ele-
phant, and I fear for you during the rainy season, which
has already commenced and during which fever is cer-

260 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

tain. To-day the weather is fine; you see, however, that
the clouds are gathering thicker and thicker and who
knows whether it will not pour before night? The tent
will not protect you sufficiently and in the baobab tree
if it is not rotten to the top, we can laugh at the greatest
downpour. It will be also safer in it than in the tent
for if in the evening we protect this opening with thorns
and make a little window to afford us light, then as
many lions as want to may roar and hover around. The
spring rainy season does not last longer than a month
and I am more and more inclined to think that it will
be necessary to wait through it. And if so, it is better
here than elsewhere, and better still in that gigantic
tree than under the tent.”

Nell always agreed to everything that Stas wanted;
so she agreed now; the more so, as the thought of remain-
ing near the elephant and dwelling in a baobab tree
pleased her immensely. She began now to think of how
she would arrange the rooms, how she would furnish
them, and how they would invite each other to “five
o’clocks”’ and dinners. In the end they both were
amused greatly and Nell wanted at once to inspect her
new dwelling, but Stas, who with each day acquired more
experience and prudence, restrained her from too sudden
housekeeping.

“ Before we live there,” he said, “it is first necessary to
bid the present tenants to move out, if any such are found
there.”

Saying this, he ordered Mea to throw into the interior
of the baobab tree a few lighted boughs, which smoked
profusely because the branches were fresh.

In fact, it appeared that he did well as the gigantic
tree was occupied by housekeepers upon whose hospitality
no reliance could be placed.

VI

THERE were two apertures in the tree, one large, about a
half a yard from the ground; the other smaller, and about
as high as the first story of a city residence. Mea had
scarcely thrown the lighted, smoking branches into the
lower one when immediately out of the upper one big
bats began to fly; squeaking and blinded by the luster
of the sun, they flew aimlessly about the tree. But after
a while from the lower opening there stole out, like light-
ning, a real tenant, in the person of a monstrous boa, who
evidently, digesting the remnants of the last feast in a
semi-somnolent state, had not become aroused and did not
think of safety until the smoke curled in his nostrils.
At the sight of the strong body, which, like a monstrous
spring, darted out of the smoking interior of the tree,
Stas grabbed Nell in his arms and began to run with her
in the direction of the open jungle. But the reptile, itself
terror-stricken, did not think of pursuing them; instead,
winding in the grass and among the scattered packages,
it slid away with unheard-of speed in the direction of
the ravine, seeking to hide amid the rocky fissures and
crannies. The children recovered their composure. Stas
placed Nell on the ground and rushed for his rifle, and
afterwards pursued the snake in the direction of the
ravine, Nell following him. But after going a score of
paces such an extraordinary spectacle struck their eyes
that they stood still as if thunderstruck. Now high
above the ravine appeared in the twinkling of an eye

262 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

the body of the snake, and, describing a zigzag in the
air, it fell again to the bottom. After a while it appeared
a second time and again fell. The children, reaching
the brink, saw with amazement that their new friend,
the elephant, was amusing himself in this manner, for
having first despatched the snake twice upon an aerial
journey, at present he was crushing its head with his
prodigious foot which resembled a log. Having finished
this operation, he again lifted the still quivering body
with his trunk; this time, however, he did not toss it up-
wards, but directly into the waterfall. After this, nod-
ding both ways and fanning himself with his ears, he began
to gaze keenly at Nell, and finally stretched out his trunk
towards her as if claiming a reward for his heroic and,
at the same time, sensible deed.

Nell ran at once to the tent and returning with a box
full of wild figs, began to throw a few at a time to him,
while he searched for them in the grass and placed one
after another in his mouth. Those which fell in deeper
crevices, he blew out with such force that, with the figs,
stones the size of a man’s fist flew up. The children re-
ceived this exhibition with applause and laughter. Nell
went back several times for new supplies, not ceasing
to contend with each fig that the elephant was entirely
tamed and that they could even at that moment go down
to him. ,

“You see, Stas; we now shall have a defender. For he
is afraid of nobody in the desert — neither lion, nor snake,
nor crocodile. And he is very good and surely loves us.”

“Tf he is tamed,” said Stas, “and if I can leave you
under his care, then really I can go hunting in perfect:
peace, for a better defender for you I could not find in
all Africa.”

After a while he added:

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 263

“The elephants of this place are wild, but I have
read that Asiatic elephants, for instance, have a strange
weakness for children. It has never occurred in India
that an elephant has harmed a child, and if one falls in
a rage, as sometimes happens, the native keepers send
children to pacify him.”

“Ah, you see! You see!”

“In any case you did well in not allowing me to kill
him.”

At this Nell’s pupils flashed with joy like two little
greenish flames. Standing on tiptoe, she placed both
her hands on Stas’ shoulders and, tilting her head back-
ward, asked, gazing into his eyes:

“T acted as if I had how many years? Tell me! As
if I had how many years?”

And he replied:

“At least seventy.”

“You are always joking.”

“Get angry, get angry, but who will free the elephant?”’

Hearing this, Nell began at once to fawn like a little
kitten.

“You — and I shall love you very much and he will
also.”’

“T am thinking of that,” Stas said, “but it will be
hard work and I shall not do it at once, but only when
we are ready to start upon a farther journey.”

“ec Why?”

“Because if we should free him before he is entirely
tame and becomes attached to us, he would go away
at once.”

“Oh! He won’t go away from me.”

“You think that he already is like me,” retorted Stas
with impatience.

Further conversation was checked by the arrival of

264 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Kali, who brought with him the slain zebra and its colt,
which had been partly devoured by Saba. It was the
good fortune of the mastiff that he rushed after Kalli,
and was not present at the encounter with the python
for he would have chased after him and, overtaking him,
would have perished in his murderous coils before Stas
could come to his aid. For eating the zebra he received,
however, from Nell a tongue-lashing which after all he
did not take too much to heart as he did not even hide
his lolling tongue, with which he came running in from
the hunt.

Stas announced in the meantime to Kali that he in-
tended to arrange a dwelling in the interior of the tree
and related to him what had occurred during the smok-
ing out of the trunk, as well as how the elephant had
handled the snake. The idea of living in the baobab
tree, which would afford a protection-not only against
the rain but also against the wild animals, pleased the
negro very much; but on the other hand the conduct of
the elephant did not meet his approval.

“The elephant is foolish,” he said, “so he threw the
nioka (snake) into the thundering water, but Kali knows
that nioka is good; so he will search for it in the thunder-
ing waters, and bake it as Kali is wise — and is a donkey.”

“Tt is agreed that you are a donkey,” Stas answered,
“but of course you will not eat the snake.”

“Nioka is good,” repeated Kali. And pointing at the
slain zebra, he added:

“Better than that niama.”

After which both went into the baobab tree and occu-
pied themselves in arranging the dwelling. Kali, having
found on the river-side a flat stone the size of a sieve,
placed it in the trunk, heaped burning coals upon it,
and afterwards continually added more fuel, watching

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 265

only that the decayed wood on the inside did not ignite
and cause the conflagration of the whole tree. He said
that he did this in order that “nothing should bite the
great master and the bibi.” In fact it appeared that
this was not a useless precaution, for as soon as smoke
filled the interior of the tree and spread even on the out-
side there began to creep out of the cracks in the bark
a great variety of creatures; scarabees, black and cherry-
colored, shaggy spiders big as plums, caterpillars of the
thickness of a finger, covered as though with thorns, and
loathsome and at the same time venomous scolopendras
whose bite may even cause death. In view of what was
occurring on the outside of the trunk it was easy to sur-
mise how many similar creatures must have perished
from the fumes of the smoke on the inside. Those which
fell from the bark and lower branches upon the grass
were crushed unmercifully with a stone by Kali, who
was continually gazing at the upper and lower openings
as if he feared that at any moment something strange
might appear in either of them.

“Why are you looking so?” Stas asked. “Do you
think that another snake is hiding in the tree?”

“No, Kali fears Mzimu!”’

“What is a Mzimu?”’

“An evil spirit.”

“Did you ever in your life see a Mzimu?”

“No, but Kali has heard the horrible noise which
Mzimu makes in the huts of fetish-men.”

“Nevertheless your fetish-men do not fear him.”

“The fetish-men know how to exorcise him, and after-
wards go to the huts and say that Mzimu is angry; so
the negroes bring them bananas, honey, pombe (beer made

of sorghum plant), eggs, and meat in order to propitiate
the Mzimu.” :

266 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Stas shrugged his shoulders.

“T see that it is a good thing to be a fetish-man among
your people. Perhaps that snake was Mzimu?”

Kali shook his head.

“In such case the elephant could not kill the Mzimu,
but the Mzimu would kill the elephant. Mzimu is death.”

Some kind of strange crash and rumble within the
tree suddenly interrupted his reply. From the lower
aperture there burst out a strange ruddy dust, after which
there resounded a second crash, louder than the former one.

Kali threw himself in the twinkling of an eye upon
his face and began to cry shrilly:

“Aka! Mzimu! Aka! Aka! Aka!”

Stas at first stepped back, but soon recovered his
composure, and when Nell with Mea came running up
he began to explain what might have happened.

“Tn all probability,” he said, “a whole mass of decayed
wood in the interior of the trunk, expanding from the
heat, finally tumbled down and buried the burning wood.
And he thinks that it was Mzimu. Let Mea, however,
pour water a few times through the opening; if the live
embers are not extinct for want of air and the decayed wood
is kindled, the tree might be consumed by fire.”

After which, seeing that Kali continued lying down
and did not cease repeating with terror, “Aka! Aka!” he
took the rifle with which he usually shot at guinea-fowl
and, firing into the opening, said, shoving the boy with
the barrel:

“Your Mzimu is killed. Do not fear.”

And Kali raised his body, but remained on his knees.

“Oh, great master! great! You do not even fear
Mzimu!”

“Aka! Aka!” exclaimed Stas, mimicking the negro.

And he began to laugh.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 267

The negro became calm after a time and when he
sat down to partake of the food prepared by Mea, it
appeared that the temporary fright had not at all deprived
him of his appetite, for besides a portion of smoked meat
he consumed the raw liver of the zebra colt, not counting
the wild figs, which a sycamore growing in the neighbor-
hood furnished in great abundance. Afterwards with Stas
they returned to the tree, about which there was yet a good
deal of work to do. The removal of the decayed wood
and the ashes, with hundreds of broiled scarabees and centi-
pedes, together with a score of baked bats occupied over
two hours’ time. Stas was also surprised that the bats
could live in the immediate neighborhood of the snake.
He surmised, however, that the gigantic python either
despised such trifling game or, not being able to wind
himself around anything in the interior of the trunk,
could not reach them. The glowing coals, having caused
the fall of layers of decayed wood, cleaned out the interior
splendidly, and its appearance delighted Stas, for it was
as wide as a large room and could have given shelter not
merely to four persons, but to ten men. The lower open-
ing formed a doorway and the upper a window, thanks to
which in the huge trunk it was neither dark nor stifling.
Stas thought of dividing the whole, by means of the
tent canvas, into two rooms, of which one was to be as-
signed to Nell and Mea and the other to himself, Kali, and
Saba. The tree was not decayed to the top of the trunk;
the rain, therefore, could not leak to the center, but in
order to be protected completely, it was sufficient to raise
and prop bark above both openings in such manner that
it should form two eaves. The bottom of the interior he
determined to strew with sand from the river bank which
had been grilled by the sun, and to carpet its surface with
dry moss.

268 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

The work was really hard, especially for Kali, for he
had, in addition, to cure the meat, water the horses,
and think of fodder for the elephant who was incessantly
trumpeting for it. But the young negro proceeded to
work about the new abode with great willingness and
even ardor; the reason for this he explained the same
day to Stas in the following manner:

“When the great master and the ‘bibi,’”’ he said, hold-
ing his arms akimbo, “live in the tree, Kali will not have
to build big zarebas for the night and he can be idle every
night.”

“Then you like to be idle?” Stas asked.

“Kali is a man, so Kali loves to be idle, as only women
ought to work.”

“But you see, however, that I work for the ‘bibi.

“But because when the ‘bibi’ grows up she will have
to work for the great master, and, if she does not want
to, the great master will whip her.”

But Stas, at the very thought of whipping the “ bibi,”’
jumped as if scalded and shouted in anger:

“Fool, do you know who the ‘bibi’ is?”’

“T do not,”’ replied the black boy with fear.

“Bibi — is — is — a good Mzimu.”

And Kali cowered.

After finishing his work he approached Nell bashfully;
then he fell on his face and began to repeat, not indeed
in a terror-stricken, but in an entreating voice:

“Aka! Aka! Aka!”

And the “Good Mzimu” stared at him, with her beauti-
ful, sea-green eyes wide open, not understanding what
had happened nor what was the matter with Kali.

999

Vil

THE new abode, which Stas named “Cracow,” was com-
pleted in the course of three days. But before that time
the principal luggage was deposited in the “men’s quar-
ters”? and during great downpours the young quartette
staid in the gigantic trunk, perfectly sheltered. The
rainy season began in earnest but it was not one of our
long autumn rains during which the heavens are heavy
with dark clouds and the tedious, vexatious bad weather
lasts for weeks. There, about a dozen times during the
day, the wind drives over the sky the swollen clouds, which
water the earth copiously, after which the sun shines
brightly, as if freshly bathed, and floods with a golden
luster the rocks, the river, the trees, and the entire jungle.
The grass grew almost before their eyes. The trees were
clad with more abundant leaves, and, before the old fruit
fell, buds of the new germinated. The air, owing to the
tiny drops of water suspended in it, grew so transpar-
ent that even distant objects became entirely distinct and
the view extended into the immeasurably far expanse.
On the sky hung charming, seven-colored rainbows and
the waterfall was almost continually attired with them.
The brief dawn and twilight played with thousands of
lights of such brilliance that the children had not seen
anything like it, even on the Libyan Desert. The lower
clouds, those nearest the earth, were dyed cherry-colored,
the upper, better illuminated, overflowed in the shape

270 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

of a lake of purple and gold, and the tiny woolly cloudlets
changed colors like rubies, amethysts, and opals. During
the night time, between one downpour of rain and an-
other, the moon transformed into diamonds the drops of
dew which clung on the mimosa and acacia leaves, and
the zodiacal light shone in the refreshed transparent
air more brightly than at any other season of the
year.

From the overflow which the river formed below the
waterfall came the uneasy croaking of frogs and the
doleful piping of toads, and fireflies, resembling shooting
stars, flew from bank to bank amid the clumps of bamboo
and arum.

But when clouds covered the starry heaven and the
rain began to fall it became very dusky and the interior
of the baobab tree was as dark as in a cellar. Desiring to
avoid this, Stas ordered Mea to melt the fat of the killed
game and make a lamp of a small plate, which he placed
beneath the upper opening, which was called a window
by the children. The light from this window, visible
from a distance in the darkness, drove away the wild
animals, but on the other hand attracted bats and even
birds so much that Kali finally was compelled to construct
in the opening something in the nature of a screen of
thorns similar to the one with which he closed the lower
opening for the night.

However, in daytime, during fair weather, the
children left “Cracow” and strolled over the promon-
tory. Stas started after antelope-ariels and ostriches, of
which numerous flocks appeared near the river below,
while Nell went to her elephant, who in the beginning
trumpeted only for food and later trumpeted when he
felt lonesome without his little friend. He always greeted
her with sheer delight and pricked his enormous ears as

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS Zal

soon as he heard from the distance her voice or her foot-
steps.

Once, when Stas went hunting and Kali angled for fish
beyond the waterfall, Nell decided to go to the rock which
closed the ravine, to see whether Stas had done anything
about its removal. Mea, occupied with preparations
for dinner, did not observe her departure; while on the
way, the little maid, gathering flowers, particularly begonia
which grew abundantly in the rocky clefts, approached
the declivity by which they at one time left the ravine
and descending found herself near the rock. The great
stone, detached from its native walls, obstructed the
ravine as it had previously done. Nell, however, noticed
that between the rock and the wall there was a passage
so wide that even a grown-up person could pass through
it with ease. For a while she hesitated, then she went in
and found herself on the other side. But there was a bend
there, which it was necessary to pass in order to reach
the wide egress of the locked-in waterfall. Nell began
to meditate. “I will go yet a little farther. I will peer
from behind the rocks; I will take just one look at the
elephant who will not see me at all, and I will return.”
Thus meditating, she advanced step by step farther and
farther, until finally she reached a place where the ravine
widened suddenly into a small dell and she saw the ele-
phant. He stood with his back turned towards her,
with trunk immersed in the waterfall, and drank. This
emboldened her, so pressing closely to the wall, she ad-
vanced a few steps, and a few more yet, and then the
huge beast, desiring to splash his sides, turned his head,
saw the little maid, and, beholding her, moved at once
towards her.

Nell became very much frightened, but as there was
no time now for retreat, pressing knee to knee, she curt-

272 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

sied to the elephant as best she could; after which she
stretched out her little hand with the begonias and spoke
in a slightly quivering voice.

“Good day, dear elephant. I know you won’t harm
me; so I came to say good day — and I have only these
flowers —”

And the colossus approached, stretched out his trunk,
and picked the bunch of begonias out of Nell’s little
fingers, and putting them into his mouth he dropped
them at once as evidently neither the rough leaves nor
the flowers were to his taste. Nell now saw above her
the trunk like a huge black snake which stretched and
bent; it touched one of her little hands and then the
other; afterwards both shoulders and finally descend-
ing it began to swing gently to and fro.

“T knew that you would not harm me,”’ the little girl
repeated, though fear did not leave her.

Meanwhile the elephant drew back his fabulous ears,
winding and unwinding alternately his trunk and gurg-
ling joyfully as he always gurgled when the little girl
approached the brink of the ravine.

And as at one time Stas and the lion, so now these
two stood opposite each other — he, an enormity, re-
sembling a house or a rock, and she a mite whom he
could crush with one motion, not indeed in rage but
through inadvertence.

But the good and prudent animal did not make angry
or inadvertent motions, but evidently was pleased and
happy at the arrival of the little guest.

Nell gained courage gradually and finally raised her
eyes upwards and, looking as though onto a high roof
she asked timidly, raising her little hand:

“May I stroke your trunk?”

The elephant did not, indeed, understand English, but

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 273

from the motion of her hand discerned at once what she
wanted and shoved under her palm the end of his trunk,
which was over two yards in length.

Nell began to stroke the trunk; at first carefully with
one hand, afterwards with both, and finally embraced it
with both arms and hugged it with perfectly childish trust.

The elephant stepped from one foot to the other and
continually gurgled from joy.

After a while he wound the diminutive body of the
girl with his trunk and, lifting her up, began to swing her
lightly right and left.

“More! More!” cried Nell, intensely amused.

And the play lasted quite a long time and afterwards
the little girl, now entirely bold, invented a new one.

Finding herself on the ground, she tried to climb on
the elephant’s fore legs, as on a tree, or, hiding behind
them, she asked whether he could find her. But at these
frolics she observed one thing, namely, that numerous
thorns were stuck in his hind legs; from these the power-
ful beast could not free himself, first because he could
not conveniently reach his hind legs with his trunk, and
again because he evidently feared to wound the finger
with which the trunk ended and without which he would
lose his skill and cleverness. Nell was not at all aware
that such thorns in the feet are a real plague to elephants
in India and still more in the African jungles composed
mainly of thorny plants. As, however, she felt sorry
for the honest giant, without any thought, having squat-
ted near his foot, she began to extract delicately at first
the bigger splinters and afterwards the smaller, at which
work she did not cease to babble and assure the elephant
that she would not leave a single one. He understood
excellently what she was concerned with, and bending his
legs at the knee showed in this manner that on the soles

274 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

between the hoofs covering his toes there were also thorns
which caused him still greater pain.

In the meantime Stas came from the hunt and at once
asked Mea where the little lady was. Receiving a reply
that she undoubtedly was in the tree, he was about to
enter the interior of the baobab tree when at that moment
it seemed to him that he heard Nell’s voice in the depth of
the ravine. Not believing his own ears, he rushed at once
to the edge and, glancing down, was astounded. The little
girl sat near the foot of the colossus which stood so quietly
that if he did not move his trunk and ears, one would
think that he was hewed out of stone.

“Nell!” Stas shouted.

And she, engaged with her work, answered merrily:

“At once! At once!”

To this the boy, who was not accustomed to hesitate
in the presence of danger, lifted his rifle with one hand in
the air and with the other grabbed a dry liana stalk,
which was stripped of its bark, and, winding his legs about
it, slid to the bottom of the ravine.

The elephant moved his ears uneasily, but at that
moment Nell rose and, hugging his trunk, cried hurriedly:

“Don’t be afraid, elephant! That is Stas.”

Stas perceived at once that she was in no danger, but
his legs yet trembled under him, his heart palpitated
violently, and before he recovered from the sensation, he
began to speak in a choking voice, full of grief and anger:

“Nell! Nell! How could you do this?”

And she began to explain that she did not do anything
wrong, for the elephant was good and was already entirely
tamed; that she wanted to take only one look at him and
return, but he stopped her and began to play with her,
that he swung her very carefully, and if Stas wanted he
would swing him also.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 275

Saying this, she took hold of the end of the trunk with
one hand and drew it to Stas, while she waved the other
hand right and left, saying at the same time to the ele-
phant:

“Elephant! Swing Stas also.”

The wise animal surmised from her gesture what she
wanted of him, and Stas, caught by the belt of his trousers,
in one moment found himself in mid-air. In this there
was such a strange and amusing contrast between his still
angry mien and this rocking above the earth that the
little “Mzimu” began to laugh until the tears came,
clapping all the time her hands and shouting as before:

“More! More!”

And as it is impossible to preserve an appropriate
dignity and deliver a lecture on deportment at a time
when one is suspended from the end of an elephant’s
trunk and involuntarily goes through the motions of a
pendulum, the boy in the end began to laugh also. But
after a certain time, noticing that the motions of the
trunk were slackening and the elephant intended to de-
posit him on the ground, a new idea unexpectedly oc-
curred to him, and, taking advantage of the moment at
which he found himself close to the prodigious ear, he
grabbed it with both hands and in the twinkling of an
eye climbed over it onto the head and sat on the elephant’s
neck.

“Aha!” he exclaimed from above to Nell; “let him
understand that he must obey me.”

And he began to stroke the elephant’s head with his
palm with the mien of a ruler and master.

“Good!” cried Nell from below, “but how will you get
down now?”

“That is small trouble,’’ Stas answered.

And slinging his legs over the elephant’s forehead, he

276 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

entwined the trunk with them and slid over it as if down
a tree.

“That is how I come down.”

After which both began to pick out the rest of the
thorns from the legs of the elephant who submitted with
the greatest patience.

In the meantime the first drops of rain fell; so Stas
decided to escort Nell to “Cracow’”’; but here an unex-
pected obstacle presented itself. The elephant did not
want to part from her and every time she attempted to
go away he turned her about with his trunk and drew
her towards him. The situation became disagreeable,
and the merry play in view of the stubbornness of the
elephant might have ended unfortunately. The boy
did not know what to do as the rain became each moment
heavier and a downpour threatened them. Both with-
drew, indeed, somewhat towards the egress, but gradually,
and the elephant followed them.

Finally Stas stood between him and Nell. He fixed
his gaze upon the elephant’s eyes and at the same time
said to Nell in an undertone:

“Don’t run, but continually draw back to the narrow
passageway.”

“And you, Stas?” the little maid asked.
“Draw back!” repeated Stas with emphasis, “other-
wise I shall have to shoot the elephant.”

The little maid, under the influence of this threat,
obeyed the command; the more so as, having already
unbounded confidence in the elephant, she was sure that
under no circumstances would he do any harm to Stas.

But the boy stood about four paces from the giant, not
removing his eyes from him for a moment.

In this manner a few minutes passed; a moment full of
danger followed. The ears of the elephant moved a score

&

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 277

of times, his little eyes glittered strangely, and suddenly
his trunk was raised.

Stas felt that he was turning pale.

“Death!” he thought.

But the colossus turned his trunk unexpectedly toward
the brink where he was accustomed to see Nell and began
to trumpet more mournfully than he had ever done before.

Stas went peacefully to the passageway and behind
the rock found Nell, who did not want to return to the
tree without him.

The boy had an uncontrollable desire to say to her:
“See what you have done! On account of you I might
have been killed.” But there was no time for reproof as
the rain changed into a downpour and it was necessary to
return as quickly as possible. Nell was drenched to the
skin though Stas wrapped her in his clothing.

In the interior of the tree he ordered the negress to
change Nell’s dress while he himself unleashed Saba,
whom previously he had tied from fear that in following
his tracks he might scare away the game; afterwards
he began to ransack all the clothing and luggage in the
hope that he might find some overlooked pinch of quinine.

But he did not find anything. Only at the bottom of
the small gallipot which the missionary had given him in
Khartiim there lay a little white powder which would
scarcely suffice for whitening the tip of a finger. He
nevertheless determined to fill the gallipot with hot
water and give this gargle to Nell to drink.

Then when the downpour had passed away and the
sun began to shine again, he left the tree to look at the
fish which Kali had brought. The negro had caught about
twenty upon a line of thin wire. Most of them were small,
but there were three about a foot long, silver speckled
and surprisingly light. Mea, who was bred upon the

278 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

banks of the Blue Nile, was conversant with these fishes;
she said that they were good to eat and towards evening
they leap very high above the water. In fact, at the
scaling and cleaning of the first it appeared that they
were so light because they had big air bladders. Stas
took one of them about the size of an apple and brought
it to show to Nell.

“Look!” he said. “This was in the fish. We could
make a pane for our window from about a dozen of these.

And he pointed at the upper opening in the tree.

But reflecting for a time he added:

“ And even something more.”

“What is it?” asked Nell.

. “A kite.”

“Such as you used to send up in Port Said? Oh good!
Dom

“T will. With thin, cut pieces of bamboo I will make a
frame and I will use these membranes instead of paper
for they are lighter and the rain will not soak them. Such
a kite will go away up in the air and with a powerful wind
will fly the Lord knows where —”’

Here he suddenly struck his forehead.

“T have an idea.”

“What is it?”’

“You shall see. As soon as I figure it out better, I
will tell you. Now that elephant of yours is making such
a racket that one cannot even talk.”

Indeed, the elephant, from longing for Nell, and _ per-
haps for both children, trumpeted so that the whole ravine
shook, together with the adjacent trees.

“We must show ourselves to him,” Nell said. “That
will quiet him.”

And they strolled to the ravine. But Stas, entirely
absorbed in his thoughts, began in an undertone to say:

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 279

“Nelly Rawlinson and Stanislas Tarkowski of Port
Said, having escaped from the dervishes in Fashoda, are
at —’”

And stopping abruptly, he asked:

“How to designate the place?”

* What, Stas?”’

“Nothing, nothing. I already know, — ‘are about a
month’s journey west of the Blue Nile and beg for im-
mediate aid.’ When the wind blows to the north or to the
west I will send twenty, fifty, a hundred of such kites
and you, Nell, shall help me to paste them.”

“ Kites?”

“Yes, and J tell you that they can be of greater service
to us than ten elephants.”’

In the meantime they reached the eae And now
began the shuffling of the elephant’s feet, the nodding,
the movements of the ears, the gurgling, and again the
mournful trumpeting when Nell attempted to retire even
for a moment. In the end.the little maid began to ex-
plain to the “dear elephant” that she could not be with
him all the time, for, of course, she had to sleep, eat, work,
and keep house in “Cracow.” But he became quiet only
when she shoved down to him with a pitchfork provisions
prepared by Kali; at night he again began to trumpet.

The children that same evening named him “The King,”
as Nell was sure that before he got caught in the ravine
he undoubtedly was the king of all the elephants in Africa.

VIII

Durine the few days following Nell passed all the mo-
ments during which the rain did not fall with the King,
who did not oppose her departure, having understood
that the little maiden would return a few times daily.
Kali, who as a rule feared elephants, gazed at this one
with amazement but in the end came to the conclusion
that the mighty, “Good Mzimu” had bewitched the giant,
so he began to visit him also.

The King was well disposed in his behavior towards
Kali as well as towards Mea, but Nell alone could do with
him whatever she pleased, so that after a week she ven-
tured even to bring Saba to him. For Stas this was a
great relief as he could with perfect peace leave Nell
under the protection, or, as he expressed it, “under the
trunk of the elephant,” and without any fear he went
hunting and even at times took Kali with him. He was
certain now that the noble animal would not desert them
under any circumstances and began to consider how to
free him from his confinement.

And to speak properly, he long ago had discovered a
way, but it required such sacrifices that he wrestled with
his thoughts as to whether he would use it and after-
wards postponed doing it from day to day. As he had
no one to speak to about this, he finally decided to ac-
quaint Nell with his intentions, though he regarded her
as a mere child.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 281

“The rock can be blasted with powder, but for that
it is necessary to spoil a great number of cartridges; that
is, to extract the bullets, pour out the powder, and make
one big charge out of it all. Such a charge I will insert in
the deepest fissure which I can find in the middle; after-
wards I will plug it and light a fire. Then the rock will
burst into a few or even a score of pieces and we can lead
the King out.”

“ But if there is a great explosion, will he not get scared?”

“Let him get scared,’ answered Stas quickly. “That
bothers me the least. Really, it is not worth while to
talk to you seriously.”

Nevertheless he continued, or rather thought aloud:

“But if I do not use enough cartridges the rock will
not burst and I shall waste them in vain; if I use a suffi-
cient number, then not many will remain. And if I should
be in want of them before the end of the journey, death
clearly threatens us. For with what will I hunt, with
what will I defend you in case of an attack? You well
know, of course, that if it were not for this rifle and the
cartridges we would have perished long ago, either at
Gebhr’s hands or from starvation. And it is very fortu-
nate too that we have horses for without them we could
not have carried all these things and the cartridges.”

At this Nell raised her finger and declared with great
positiveness :

“When I tell the King, he will carry everything.”

“How will he carry the cartridges, if very few of them
remain?”

“As to that, he will defend us.”

“But he won’t fire from his trunk as I do from the
rifle.”

“Then we can eat figs and big gourds which grow on
the trees, and Kali will catch fish.”

282 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“That is, as long as we stay near the river. We still
have to pass the rainy season here, as these continual
downpours’ would surely prostrate you with the fever.
Remember, however, that later we shall start upon a
further journey and we might chance upon a desert.”’

“Such as Sahara?” Nell asked in alarm.

“No; one where there are neither rivers, nor fruit-
trees, and only low acacias and mimosas grow. There
one can live only upon what is secured by hunting. The
King will find grass there and I antelopes, but if I do not
have anything to shoot them with, then the King will not
catch them.”

And Stas, in reality, had something to worry about,
as by that time, when the elephant was already tamed
and had become friendly it was impossible to abandon
him and doom him to death by starvation; and to
liberate him meant the loss of a greater portion of the
ammunition and exposing themselves to unavoidable
destruction.

So Stas postponed the work from day to day, repeating
to himself in his soul each evening:

“Perhaps to-morrow I may devise some other scheme.”’

In the meantime to this trouble others were added.
At first Kali was stung at the river below by wild bees
to which he was led by a small gray-greenish bird, well-
known in Africa and called bee-guide. The black boy,
through indolence, did not smoke out the bees sufficiently
and returned with honey, but so badly stung and swollen
that an hour later he lost all consciousness. The “Good
Mzimu,” with Mea’s aid, extracted stings from him until
night and afterwards plastered him with earth upon
which Stas poured water. Nevertheless, towards morn-
ing it seemed as if the poor negro were dying. Fortunately,
the nursing and his strong constitution overcame the

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 283

danger; he did not, however, recover his health until
the lapse of ten days.

The second mishap was met by the horses. Stas, who
during Kali’s sickness had to fetter the horses and lead
them to water, observed that they began to grow terribly
lean. This could not be explained by a lack of fodder
as in consequence of the rains grass shot up high and
there was excellent pasturage near the ford. And yet
the horses wasted away. After a few days their hair
bristled, their eyes became languid, and from their nos-
trils a thick slime flowed. In the end they ceased to eat
and instead drank eagerly, as if fever consumed them.
When Kali regained his health they were merely two
skeletons. But he only glanced at them and understood
at once what had happened.

“Tsetse!”’ he said, addressing Stas. “They must die.”

Stas also understood, for while in Port Said he had often
heard of the African fly, called ‘ tsetse,” which is such
a terrible plague in some regions that wherever it has
its permanent habitat the negroes do not possess any
cattle at all, and wherever, as a result of temporary favor-
able conditions it multiplies unexpectedly, cattle perish.
A horse, ox, or donkey bitten by a tsetse wastes and dies
in the course of a fortnight or even in a few days. The
local animals understand the danger which threatens
them, for it happens that whole herds of oxen, when they
hear its hum near a waterfall, are thrown into a wild stam-
pede and scamper in all directions.

Stas’ horses were bitten; these horses and the donkey
Kali now rubbed daily with some kind of plant, the odor
of which resembled that of onions and which he found in
the jungles. He said that the odor would drive away the
tsetse, but notwithstanding this preventative remedy the
horses grew thinner. Stas, with dread, thought of what

284 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

might happen if all the animals should succumb; how
then could he convey Nell, the saddle-cloth, the tent,
the cartridges and the utensils? There was so much of
them that only the King could carry them all. But to
liberate the King it was necessary to sacrifice at least
two-thirds of the cartridges.

Ever-increasing troubles gathered over Stas’ head like
the clouds which did not cease to water the jungle with |
rain. Finally came the greatest calamity, in the presence
of which all the others dwindled — fever!

IX

ONE night at supper Nell, having raised a piece of smoked
meat to her lips, suddenly pushed it away, as if with
loathing, and said:

“T cannot eat to-day.”

Stas, who had learned from Kali where the bees were
and had smoked them out daily in order to get their
honey, was certain that the little one had eaten during
the day too much honey, and for that reason he did not
pay any attention to her lack of appetite. But she after
a while rose and began to walk hurriedly about the camp-
fire describing an ever larger circle.

“Do not get away too far, for something might seize
you,” the boy shouted at her.

He really, however, did not fear anything, for the
elephant’s presence, which the wild animals scented, and
his trumpeting, which reached their vigilant ears, held
them at a respectable distance... It assured safety alike
to the people and to the horses, for the most ferocious
beasts of prey in the jungle, the lion, the panther, and the
leopard, prefer to have nothing to do with an elephant
and not to approach too near his tusks and trunk.

Nevertheless, when the little maid continued to run
around, more and more hurriedly, Stas followed her and
asked:

“Say, little moth! Why are you flying like that about
the fire?”

286 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

He asked still jestingly, but really was uneasy and his
uneasiness increased when Nell answered:

“T don’t know. I can’t sit down in any place.”

“What is the matter with you?”

“T feel so strangely —”’

And then suddenly she rested her head on his bosom and
as though confessing a fault, exclaimed in a meek voice,
broken by sobs:

“Stas, perhaps I am sick —”’

“Nell!”

Then he placed his palm upon her forehead which was
dry and icy. So he took her in his arms and carried her
to the camp-fire.

“ Are you cold?”’ he asked on the way.

“Cold and hot, but more cold —”’

In fact her little teeth chattered and chills continually
shook her body. Stas now did not have the slightest
doubt that she had a fever.

He at once ordered Mea to conduct her to the tree,
undress her and place her on the ground, and afterwards
to cover her with whatever she could find, for he had seen
in Khartim and Fashoda that fever-stricken people were
covered with sheeps’ hide in order to perspire freely. He
determined to sit at Nell’s side the whole night and give
her hot water with honey to drink. But she in the begin-
ning did not want to drink. By the light of the little
lamp hung in the interior of the tree he observed her
glittering eyes. After a while she began to complain of
the heat and at the same time shook under the saddle-
cloth and plaids. Her hands and forehead continued
cold, but had Stas known anything about febrile disorders,
he would have seen by her extraordinary restlessness that
she must have a terrible fever. With fear he observed
that when Mea entered with hot water the little girl

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 287

gazed at her as though with a certain amazement and
even fear and did not seem to recognize her. With him
she spoke consciously. She said to him that she could not
lie down and begged him to permit her to rise and run
about; then again she asked whether he was not angry
at her because she was sick, and when he assured her that
he was not, her eyelashes were suffused with the tears
which surged to her eyes, and she assured him that on the
morrow she would be entirely well.

That evening, or that night, the elephant was somehow
strangely disturbed and continually trumpeted so as to
awake Saba and cause him to bark. Stas observed that
this irritated the patient; so he left the tree to quiet
them. He silenced Saba easily, but as it was a harder
matter to bid the elephant to be silent, he took with
him a few melons to throw to him, and stuff his trunk
at least for a time. Returning, he observed, by the light
of the camp-fire, Kali who, with a piece of smoked meat
on his shoulders, was going in the direction of the river.

“What are you doing there, and where are you going?”
he asked the negro.

And the black boy stopped, and when Stas drew near
to him said with a mysterious countenance:

“Kali is going to another tree to place meat for the
wicked Mzimu.”

“Why?”

“That the wicked Mzimu should not kill the ‘Good
Mzimu.’”

Stas wanted to say something in reply, but suddenly
grief seized his bosom; so he only set his teeth and walked
away in silence.

When he returned to the tree Nell’s eyes were closed, her
hands, lying on the saddle-cloth, quivered indeed strongly,
but it seemed that she was slumbering. Stas sat down

288 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

near her, and from fear of waking her he sat motionless.
Mea, sitting on the other side, readjusted every little
while pieces of ivory protruding out of her ears, in order
to defend herself in this manner from drowsiness. It
became still; only from the river below, from the direction
of the overflow, came the croaking of frogs and the melan-
choly piping of toads.

Suddenly Nell sat up on the bedding.

ito) ekg

“T am here, Nell.”

And she, shaking like a leaf in the breeze, began to
seek his hands and repeat hurriedly:

“T am afraid! I am afraid! Give me your hand!”

“Don’t fear. I am with you.”

And he grasped her palm which this time was heated
as if on fire; not knowing what to do he began to cover
that poor, emaciated hand with kisses.

“Don’t be afraid, Nell! don’t be afraid!”’

After which he gave her water with honey to drink,
which by that time had cooled. This time Nell drank
eagerly and clung to the hand with the utensil when he
tried to take it away from her lips. The cool drink seemed
to soothe her.

Silence ensued. But after the lapse of half an hour
Nell again sat up on the bedding and in her wide-open
eyes could be seen terrible fright.

UES |

“What is it, dear?”

“Why,” she asked in a broken voice, “do Gebhr and
Chamis walk around the tree and peer at me?”

To Stas in an instant it seemed as if thousands of ants
were crawling over him.

“What are you saying, Nell?” he said. ‘There is
nobody here. That is Kali walking around the tree.”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 289

But she, staring at the dark opening, cried with chat-
tering teeth:

“ And the Bedouins too! Why did you kill them?”

Stas clasped her with his arms and pressed her to his
bosom.

“You know why! Don’t look there! Don’t think of
that! That happened long ago!”

“To-day! To-day!”

“No, Nell, long ago.”

In fact it was long ago, but it had returned like a wave
beaten back from the shore and again filled with terror the
thoughts of the sick child.

All words of reassurance appeared in vain. Nell’s
eyes widened more and more. Her heart palpitated so
violently that it seemed that it would burst at any mo-
ment. She began to throw herself about like a fish taken
out of the water, and this continued almost until morning.
Only towards the morning was her strength exhausted and
her head dropped upon the bedding.

“T am weak, weak,” she repeated. “Stas, I am flying
somewhere down below.”

After which she closed her eyes.

Stas at first became terribly alarmed for he thought that
she had died. But this was only the end of the first
paroxysm of the dreadful African fever, termed deadly,
two attacks of which strong and healthy people can
resist, but the third no one thus far had been able to
withstand. Travelers had often related this in Port Said
in Mr. Rawlinson’s home, and yet more frequently Cath-
olic missionaries returning to Europe, whom Pan Tar-
kowski received hospitably. The second attack comes
after a few days or a fortnight, while if the third does
not come within two weeks it is not fatal as it is reckoned
as the first in the recurrence of the sickness. Stas knew

290 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

that the only medicine which could break or keep off the
attack was quinine in big doses, but now he did not have
an atom of it.

For the time being, however, seeing that Nell was
breathing, he became somewhat calm and began to pray
for her. But in the meantime the sun leaped from beyond
the rocks of the ravine and it was day. The elephant
already demanded his breakfast and from the direction
of the overflow which the river made resounded the cries
of aquatic birds. Desiring to kill a brace of guinea-fowl
for broth for Nell, the boy took his gun and strolled
along the river towards a clump of shrubs on which these
birds usually perched for the night. But he felt the effect
of lack of sleep so much and his thoughts were so occupied
with the little girl’s illness that a whole flock of guinea-
fowl passed close by him in a trot, one after another,
bound for the watering place, and he did not observe them
at all. This happened also because he was continually
praying. He thought of the slaying of Gebhr, Chamis,
and the Bedouins, and lifting his eyes upwards he said
with a voice choking with tears:

“T did this for Nell, oh Lord, for Nell! For I could not
free her otherwise; but if it is a sin, punish me, but let her
regain her health.”

On the way he met Kali, who had gone to see whether
the wicked Mzimu ate the meat offered to him the pre-
vious night. The young negro, loving the little “bibi,”
prayed also for her, but he prayed in an entirely different
fashion. He particularly told the wicked Mzimu that
if the “bibi’’ recovered her health he would bring him a
piece of meat every day, but if she died, though he feared
him and though he might afterwards perish, he would
first so flay his hide that the wicked Mzimu would remem-
ber it for ages. He felt greatly encouraged when the

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 291

meat deposited the previous night disappeared. It might
indeed have been carried away by some jackal, but the
Mzimu might assume the shape of a jackal.

Kali informed Stas of this propitious incident; the
latter, however, stared at him as if he did not understand
him at all and went on further. Passing a clump of shrubs
in which he did not find any guinea-fowl, he drew nearer
the river. Its banks were overgrown with tall trees from
which were suspended like long stockings the nests of
titmice, beautiful little yellow birds with black wings,
and also wasps’ nests resembling big roses, but colored
like gray blotting-paper. In one place the river formed an
expansion a few score paces wide, overgrown in part by
papyrus. On this expansion aquatic birds always swarmed.
There were storks just like our European storks, and
storks with thick bills ending with a hook, and birds black
as velvet, with legs red as blood, and flamingoes and
ibises, and white spoon-bills with bills like spoons, and
cranes with crowns on their heads, and a multitude of
curlews, variegated and gray as mice, flying quickly back
and forth as if they were tiny sylvan sprites on long, thin,
snipe-like legs.

Stas killed two large ducks, beautiful, cinnamon colored, |
and treading upon dead butterflies, of which thousands
strewed the bank, he first looked around carefully to
see whether there were any crocodiles in the shallows,
after which he waded into the water and lifted his quarry.
The shots had dispersed the birds; there remained only
two marabous, standing between ten and twenty paces
away and plunged in reverie. They were like two old
men with bald heads pressed between the shoulders. They
did not move at all. The boy gazed for a while at the
loathsome fleshy pouches hanging from their breasts,
and afterwards, observing that the wasps were beginning

292 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

to circle around him more and more frequently, he re-
turned to the camping place.

Nell still slept; so handing the ducks to Mea, he flung
himself upon a saddle-cloth and fell into a sound sleep.
They did not wake until the afternoon — he first and
Nell later. The little girl felt somewhat stronger and
the strong broth revived her strength still more; she
rose and left the tree, desiring to look at the King and
at the sun.

But only now in the daylight could be seen what havoc
that one night’s fever had wrought in her. Her complex-
ion was yellow and transparent; her lips were black; there
were circles furrowed under her eyes, and her face was
as though it had aged. Even the pupils of her eyes ap-
peared paler than usual. It appeared also, despite
her assurances to Stas that she felt quite strong and not-
withstanding the large cup of broth which she drank
immediately after awakening, that she could barely
reach the ravine unaided. Stas thought with despair of
the second attack and that he had neither medicine nor
any remedy by which he could prevent it.

In the meantime the rain poured a dozen or more times
a day, increasing the humidity of the air.

xX

Days of suspense, heavy and full of fear, began. The
second attack did not come until a week after and was
not so strong as the first, but after it Nell felt still weaker.
She wasted and grew so thin that she no longer was a
little girl, but the shadow of a little girl. The flame of
her life flickered so faintly that it appeared sufficient to
blow at it to extinguish it. Stas understood that death
did not have to wait for a third attack to take her and
he expected it any day or any hour.

He himself became emaciated and black, for misfortune
exceeded his strength and his reason. So, gazing on her
waxen countenance, he said to himself each day: “For
this I guarded her like the eye in the head; in order to’
bury her here in the jungle.” And he did not understand
why it should be so. At times he reproached himself
that he had not guarded her enough, that he had not been
sufficiently kind to her, and at such moments such sorrow
seized his heart that he wanted to gnaw his own fingers.
Clearly there was too much of woe.

And Nell now slept almost continuously and it may
be that this kept her alive. Stas woke her a few times a
day to give her nourishment. Then, as often as it did
not rain, she begged him to carry her into the open air
for now she could not stand on her own feet. It happened,
moreover, that she fell asleep in his arms. She knew now
that she was very sick and might at any moment die.

294. IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

In moments of greater animation she spoke of this to
Stas, and always with tears, for she feared death.

Once she said: “I shall not now return to papa, but
tell him that I was very, very sorry — and beg him to
come to me.”

“You will return,” Stas answered.

And he could not say anything more as he wanted to
wail.

And Nell continued in a scarcely audible, dreamy
voice:

“And papa will come and you will come sometime,
will you not?”

At this thought a smile brightened the little wan face,
but after a while she said in a still lower tone:

“But I am so sorry!”

Saying this she rested her little head upon his shoulder
and began to weep. He mastered his pain, pressed her to
his bosom, and replied with animation:

“Nell, I will not return without you — and I do not
at all know what I would do in this world without
you.”

Silence followed, during which Nell again fell asleep.

Stas carried her to the tree, but he had barely gone
outside when from the summit of the promontory Kali
came running and waving his hands; he began to shout,
with an agitated and frightened face:

“Great master! Great master!”

“What do you want?” Stas asked.

And the negro, stretching out his hand and pointing to
the south, said:

“Smoke!”

Stas shaded his eyes with his palm and straining his
sight in the direction indicated really saw in the ruddy
luster of the sun, which now stood low, a streak of smoke

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 295

rising far in the jungle, amid the top of two still more
distant hills which were quite high.

Kali trembled all over, for he well remembered his
horrible slavery with the dervishes; he was certain that
this was their camping place. To Stas, also, it seemed that
this could not be any one else than Smain, and at first he
too became terribly frightened. Only this was wanting!
Besides Nell’s fatal disease, the dervishes! And again
slavery, and again a return to Fashoda or to Khartim,
under the hand of the Mahdi or the lash of Abdullahi.
If they caught them Nell would die at once, while he
would remain a slave the rest of the days of his life;
and if he did escape of what use was liberty to him with-
out Nell? How could he look into the eyes of his father
or Mr. Rawlinson, if the dervishes after her death should
fling her to the hyenas. He himself would not even be
able to say where her grave was.

Such thoughts flitted through his head like lightning.
Suddenly he felt an insurmountable desire to look at Nell,
and directed his steps towards the tree. On the way he
instructed Kali to extinguish the fire and not to dare to
light it during the night, after which he entered the tree.

Nell was not sleeping and felt better. She at once
communicated this news to Stas. Saba lay close to her
and warmed her with his huge body, while she stroked
his head lightly, smiling when he caught with his jaws the
subtile dust of the decayed wood floating in the streak
of light which the last rays of the setting sun formed in
the tree. She apparently was in a better frame of mind,
as after a while she addressed Stas with quite a lively mien.

“And perhaps I may not die.”

“You surely will not die,” Stas replied; “since after
the second attack you feel stronger, the third will not come
ac al:

296 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

But she began to blink with her eyelids as if she were
meditating over something and said:

“Tf I had bitter powders like that which made me feel
so well after the night with the lions — do you remember?
— then I would not think the least bit of dying — not
even so much!”

And she indicated upon her little finger just how little
in that case she would be prepared to die.

“Ah!” Stas declared, “I do not know what I would
not give for a pinch of quinine.”

And he thought that if he had enough of it, he would
at once treat Nell with two powders, even, and then he
would wrap her in plaids, seat her before him on a horse,
and start immediately in a direction opposite to the one in
which the camp of the dervishes was located.

In the meantime the sun set and the jungle was sud-
denly plunged in darkness.

The little girl chattered yet for half an hour, after
which she fell asleep and Stas meditated further about
the dervishes and quinine. His distressed but resourceful
mind began to labor and form plans, each one bolder and
more audacious than the other. First he began to pon-
der over whether that smoke in the southern direction
necessarily came from Smain’s camp. It might indeed be
dervishes, but it also might be Arabs from the ocean
coast, who made great expeditions into the interior for
ivory and slaves. These had nothing in common with
the dervishes who injured their trade. The smoke might
also be from a camp of Abyssinians or from some negro
village at the foot-hills which the slave hunters had not
yet reached. Would it not be proper for him to satisfy
himself upon this point?

, The Arabs from Zanzibar, from the vicinity of Bagamoyo,
from Witu and from Mombasa, and in general from the

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 297

territory bordering on the ocean, were people who con-
tinuously came in contact with white men; so who knows
whether for a great reward they would not conduct them
to the nearest port? Stas knew perfectly well that he
could promise such a reward and that they would believe
his promise. There occurred to him another idea which
touched him to the depth. In Khartiim he saw that
many of the dervishes, particularly those from Nubia,
suffered fever almost as badly as the white people and that
they cured themselves with quinine which they stole
from the Europeans, and if it were hidden by renegade
Greeks or Copts they purchased it for its weight in gold.
So it might be expected that the Arabs from the coast
would be certain to have it.

“T shall go,’”’ Stas said to himself, “TI shall go, for Nell.”

And pondering more and more strongly upon the situ-
ation he, in the end, came to the conclusion that even if
that was Smain’s division, it was incumbent for him to
go. He recollected that on account of the complete
rupture of relations between Egypt and the Sudan, Smain
in all probability knew nothing about their abduction
from Fayim.

Fatma could not have had an understanding with him;
therefore that abduction was her individual scheme,
executed with the aid of Chamis, son of Chadigi, together
with Idris, Gebhr, and the two Bedouins. Now these men
did not concern Smain for the simple reason that among
them he knew only Chamis, and the others he never saw
in his life. He was concerned only about his own children
and Fatma. But he might long for them now, and might
be glad to return to them, particularly if in the service
of the Mahdi he apparently did not meet with great for-
tune, since instead of commanding powerful troops or
governing some vast region he was compelled to catch

298 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

slaves the Lord knew where — far beyond Fashoda. “I
will say to him,” Stas thought, “that if you will lead us
to any seaport on the Indian Ocean and return with
us to Egypt, the government will pardon all your offenses;
you will rejoin Fatma and the children, and besides, Mr.
Rawlinson will make you rich; if not you will never again
see your children and Fatma in your life.”

And he was certain that Smain would consider well
before he rejected such an arrangement.

Of course this was not altogether safe; it might even
prove disastrous, but it might become a plank of rescue
from that African whirlpool. Stas in the end began to
wonder why the possibility of meeting with Smain should
have frightened him at first and, as he was anxious for
quick relief for Nell, he determined to go, even that night.

It was easier, however, to say than to do it; it is
one thing to sit at night in the jungle near a good fire
behind a thorny zareba, and another to set forth amid
darkness, in high grass, in which at such a time the lion,
panther, and leopard, not to speak of hyenas and jackals,
are seeking their prey. The boy, however, recollected
the words of the young negro at the time when he went
during the night to search for Saba and, having returned,
said to him, “Kali feared but Kali went.” And he re-
peated to himself, “I shall fear, but I will go.”

He waited, however, until the moon rose, as the night
was extraordinarily dark, and only when the jungle was
silvered by her luster did he call Kali and say:

“Kali, take Saba into the tree, close the entrance with
thorns, and guard the little lady with Mea as the eye in
your head, while I go and see what kind of people are
in that camp.”

“Great master, take Kali with you and the rifle which
kills bad animals. Kali does not want to stay.”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 299

“You shall stay!” Stas said firmly. “And I forbid
you to go with me.”

After which he became silent, but presently said in a
somewhat hollow voice:

“Kali, you are faithful and prudent, so I am confident
that you will do what I tell you. If I should not return
and the little lady should die, you will leave her in the
tree, but around the tree you will build a high zareba and
on the bark you will carve a great sign like this.”

And taking two bamboos, he formed them into a cross,
after which he continued thus: ?

“Tf, however, I do not return and the ‘ bibi’ does not die
you shall honor her and serve her faithfully, and after-
wards you shall conduct her to your people, and tell the
Wahima warriors that they should go continually to the
east until they reach the great sea. There you will find
white men who will give you many rifles, much powder,
beads, and wire, and as much cloth as you are able to carry.
Do you understand?”

And the young negro threw himself on his knees, em-
braced Stas’ limbs, and began to repeat mournfully:

“Bwana kubwa! You will return! You will return!”

Stas was deeply touched by the black boy’s devotion, so
he leaned over him, placed his hand on his head, and said:

“Go into the tree, Kali — and may God bless you!”

Remaining alone, he deliberated for a while whether
to take the donkey with him. This was the safer course,
for lions in Africa as well as the tigers in India, in case
they meet a man riding a horse or donkey, always charge
at the animal and not at the man. But he propounded
to himself the question, who in such case will carry Nell’s
tent and on what will she herself ride? After this obser-
vation he rejected at once the idea of taking the donkey
and set off on foot in the jungle.

300 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

The moon already rose higher in the heavens; it was
therefore considerably lighter. Nevertheless, the diffi-
culties began as soon as the boy plunged into the
grass, which grew so high that a man on _ horseback
could easily be concealed in it. Even in the daytime one
could not see a step ahead in it, and what of the night,
when the moon illuminated only the heights, and below
everything was steeped in a deep shade? Under such
conditions it was easy to stray and walk around in
a circle instead of moving forward. Stas, nevertheless,
was cheered by the thought that in the first place the
camp, towards which he went, was at most three or four
English miles distant from the promontory, and again that
it appeared between the tops of two lofty hills; there-
fore, by keeping the hills in sight, one could not stray.
But the grass, mimosa, and acacias veiled everything.
Fortunately every few score of paces there stood white-ant
hillocks, sometimes between ten and twenty feet high.
Stas carefully placed the rifle at the bottom of each hillock;
afterwards climbed to the top, and descrying the hills
blackly outlined on the background of the sky, descended
and proceeded farther.

Fear seized him only at the thought of what would
happen if clouds should veil the moon and the sky, for
then he would find himself as though in a subterranean
cavern. But this was not the only danger. The jungle
in the night time, when, amidst the stillness can be heard
every sound, every step, and almost the buzz which the
insects creeping over the grass make, is downright ter-
rifying. Fear and terror hover over it. Stas had to pay
heed to everything, to listen, watch, look around in every
direction, have his head on screws, as it were, and have
the rifle ready to fire at any second. Every moment it
seemed to him that something was approaching, skulking,

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 301

hiding in ambush. From time to time he heard the grass
stir and the sudden clatter of animals running away.
He then conjectured that he had scared some antelopes
which, notwithstanding posted guards, sleep watchfully,
knowing that many yellow, terrible hunters are seeking
them at that hour in the darkness. But now something
big is darkly outlined under the umbrella-like acacia.
It may be a rock and it may be a rhinoceros or a buffalo
which, having scented a man, will wake from a nap and
rush at once to attack him. Yonder again behind a black
bush can be seen two glittering dots. Heigh! Rifle to
face! That is a lion! No! Vain alarm! Those are fire-
flies for one dim light rises upwards and flies above the
grass like a star shooting obliquely. Stas climbed onto
ant-hillocks, not always to ascertain whether he was
going in the right direction, but to wipe the cold per-
spiration from his brow, to recover his breath, and to
wait until his heart, palpitating too rapidly, calmed.
In addition he was already so fatigued that he was
barely able to stand on his feet.

But he proceeded because he felt that he must do so,
to save Nell. After two hours he got to a place, thickly
strewn with stones, where the grass was lower and it
was considerably lighter. The lofty hills appeared as
distant as before; on the other hand nearer were the
rocky ridges running transversely, beyond which the
second, higher hill arose, while both evidently enclosed
some kind of valley or ravine similar to the one in which
the King was confined.

Suddenly, about three or four hundred paces on the
right, he perceived on the rocky wall the rosy reflection
of a flame.

He stood still. His heart again beat so strongly that
he almost heard it amid the stillness of the night. Whom

302 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

would he see below? Arabs from the eastern coast?
Smain’s dervishes, or savage negroes who, escaping from
their native villages, sought protection from the dervishes
in the inaccessible thickets of the hills? Would he find
death, or slavery, or salvation for Nell?

It was imperative to ascertain this. He could not
retreat now, nor did he desire to. After a while he stepped
in the direction of the fire, moving as quietly as possible and
holding the breath in his bosom. Having proceeded thus
about a hundred paces he unexpectedly heard from the
direction of the jungle the snorting of horses and again
stopped. In the moonlight he counted five horses. For
the dervishes this would not be enough, but he assumed
that the rest were concealed in the high grass. He was
only surprised that there were no guards near them nor
had these guards lighted any fires above to scare away
the wild animals. But he thanked the Lord that it was
so, as he could proceed farther without detection.

The luster on the rocks became more and more distinct.
Before a quarter of an hour passed, Stas found himself
at a place at which the opposite rock was most illuminated,
which indicated that at its base a fire must be burning.

Then, crawling slowly, he crept to the brink and glanced
below. |

The first object which struck his eyes was a big white
tent; before the tent stood a canvas field bed, and on it
lay a man attired in a white European dress. A little
negro, perhaps twelve years old, was adding dry fuel to
the fire which illumined the rocky wall and a row of
negroes sleeping under it on both sides of the tent.

Stas in one moment slid down the declivity to the
bottom of the ravine.

XI

For some time from exhaustion and emotion he could
not utter a word, and stood panting heavily before the
man lying on the bed, who also was silent and stared at
him with an amazement bordering almost upon uncon-
sciousness.

Finally the latter exclaimed:

“Nasibu! Are you there?”’

“Yes, master,” answered the negro lad.

“Do you see any one — any one standing there before
me?”’

But before the boy was able to reply Stas recovered
his speech.

“Sir,” he said, “my name is Stanislas Tarkowski.
With little Miss Rawlinson I have escaped from der-
vish captivity and we are hiding in the jungle. But Nell
is terribly sick; and for her sake I beg for help.”

The unknown continued to stare at him, blinking with
his eyes, and then rubbed his brow with his hand.

“T not only see but hear!” he said to himself. “This
is no illusion! What? Help? I myself am in need of
help. I am wounded.”

Suddenly, however, he shook himself as though out of
a wild dream or torpor, gazed more consciously, and,
with a gleam of joy in his eyes, said:

“A white boy! —I again see a white one! I welcome
you whoever you are. Did you speak of some sick girl?
What do you want of me?”

304 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Stas repeated that the sick girl was Nell, the daughter
of Mr. Rawlinson, one of the directors of the Canal; that
she already had suffered from two attacks of fever and
must die if he did not obtain quinine to prevent the third.

“Two attacks — that is bad!” answered the unknown.
“But I can give you as much quinine as you want. I
have several jars of it which are of no use to me now.”

Speaking thus, he ordered little Nasibu to hand him a
big tin box, which apparently was a small traveling drug
store; he took out of it two rather large jars filled with
a powder and gave them to Stas.

“This is half of what I have. It will last you for a
year even.”

Stas had a desire to shout from sheer delight, so he
began to thank him with as much rapture as if his own
life were involved.

The unknown nodded his head several times, and said:

“Good, good, my name is Linde; I am a Swiss from
Zurich. Two days ago I met with an accident. A wart-
hog wounded me severely.”

Afterwards he addressed the lad:

“Nasibu, fill my pipe.”

Then he said to Stas:

“Tn the night-time the fever is worse and my mind be-
comes confused. But a pipe clears my thoughts. Truly,
did you say that you had escaped from dervish captivity
and are hiding in the jungle? Is it so?”’

V GS, Sit. sb Said it:

“ And what do you intend to do ?”

“Fly to Abyssinia.”

“You will fall into the hands of the Mahdists; whose
divisions are prowling all along the boundary.”

“We cannot, however, undertake anything else.”

“Ah, a month ago I could still have given you aid.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 305

But now I am alone —dependent only upon Divine
mercy and that black lad.”

Stas gazed at him with astonishment.

“And this camp?”

“Tt is the camp of death.”

“ And those negroes?”

“Those negroes are sleeping and will not awaken any
more.”

“T do not understand —”

“They are suffering from the sleeping sickness.!_ Those
are men from beyond the Great Lakes where this terrible
disease is continually raging and all fell prey to it, ex-
cepting those who previously died of small-pox. Only
that boy remains to me.”

Stas, just before, was struck by the fact that at the time
when he slid into the ravine not a negro stirred or even
quivered, and that during the whole conversation all
slept — some with heads propped on the rock, others
with heads drooping upon their breasts.

“They are sleeping and will not awaken any more?”
he asked, as though he had not yet realized the significance
of what he had heard.

And Linde said:

“Ah! This Africa is a charnel house.”

But further conversation was interrupted by the stamp-
ing of the horses, which, startled at something in the jungle,
came jumping with fettered legs to the edge of the valley,
desiring to be nearer to the men and the light.

“That is nothing — those are horses,” the Swiss said.
“T captured them from the Mahdists whom I routed a

1 Recent investigations have demonstrated that this disease
is inoculated in people by the bite of the same fly “‘tsetse’’? which
kills oxen and horses. Nevertheless its bite causes the sleeping

sickness only in certain localities. During the time of the Mahdist
rebellion the cause of the disease was unknown.

306 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

few weeks ago. There were three hundred of them; per-
haps more. But they had principally spears, and my
men Remingtons, which now are stacked under that
wall, absolutely useless. If you need arms or ammuni-
tion take all that you want. Take a horse also; you
will return sooner to your patient — how old is she?”

“Eight,” Stas replied.

“Then she is still a child— Let Nasibu give you tea,
rice, coffee, and wine for her. Take of the supplies what-
ever you want, and to-morrow come for more.”’

“T shall surely return to thank you once more from my
whole heart and help you in whatever I can.”

And Linde said:

“It is good even to gaze at a European face. If you
had come earlier I would have been more conscious. Now
the fever is taking hold of me, for I see double. Are there
two of you above me? No, I know that you are alone
and that this is only the fever. Ah! this Africa!”

And he closed his eyes.

A quarter of an hour later Stas started to return from
this strange camp of sleep and death, but this time on
horseback. The night was still dark, but now he paid no
heed to any dangers which he might encounter in the high
grass. He kept, however, more closely to the river,
assuming that both ravines must lead to it. After all
it was considerably easier to return, as in the stillness
of the night came from a distance the roar of the water-
fall; the clouds in the western sky were scattered and,
besides the moon, the zodiacal light shone strongly.
The boy pricked the horse on the flanks with the broad
Arabian stirrups and rode at almost breakneck speed,
saying in his soul: “ What are lions and panthers to me?
I have quinine for my little one!”” And from time to time
he felt the jars with his hand, as if he wanted to assure

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 307

himself that he actually possessed them and that it was
not all a dream. Various thoughts and pictures flitted
through his brain. He saw the wounded Swiss to whom
he felt immense gratitude and whom he pitied so heartily
that, at first, during their conversation, he took him for
a madman; he saw little Nasibu with skull as round
as a ball, and the row of sleeping “ pagahs,” and the bar-
rels of the Remingtons stacked against the rock and
glistening in the fire. He was almost certain that the
battle which Linde mentioned was with Smain’s division,
and it seemed strange to him to think that Smain might
have fallen.

With these visions mingled the constant thought of
Nell. He pictured to himself how surprised she would
be to behold on the morrow a whole jar of quinine, and
that she probably would take him for a performer of
miracles. “Ah,” he said to himself, “if I had acted like
a coward and had not gone to ascertain where that smoke
came from I would not have forgiven myself during the
rest of my life.”

After the lapse of a little less than an hour the roar
of the waterfall became quite distinct and, from the croak-
ing of frogs, he conjectured that he already was near
the expansion where he had previously shot aquatic birds.
In the moon’s luster he even recognized in the distance
the trees standing above it. Now it was necessary to
exercise greater caution, as that overflow formed at the
same time a watering place to which all the animals of
the locality came, for the banks of the river elsewhere
were steep and inaccessible. But it was already late and
the beasts of prey evidently hid in rocky dens after their
nocturnal quests. The horse snorted a little, scenting
the recent tracks of lions or panthers; nevertheless, Stas
rode on happily, and a moment later saw on the high

308 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

promontory the big black silhouette of “Cracow.” For
the first time in Africa he had a sensation as if he had
arrived at home.

Hereckoned that he would find all asleep, but he reckoned
without Saba, who began to bark loud enough to awaken
even the dead. Kali also appeared before the tree and
exclaimed:

“Bwana kubwa! On horseback!”

In his voice there was, however, more joy than surprise,
as he believed in Stas’ powers so much that if the latter
had even created a horse, the black boy would not have
been very much surprised.

But as joy in negroes manifests itself in laughter, he
began to slap his thighs with his palms and laugh like
a madman.

“Tie this horse,’ Stas said. “Remove the supplies
from him, build a fire, and boil water.”’

After this he entered the tree. Nell awoke also and
began to call him. Stas, drawing aside the canvas wall,
saw by the light of the fire-pot her pale face, and thin,
white hands lying on the plaids with which she was
covered.

“How do you feel, little one?”’ he asked merrily.

“Good, and I slept well until Saba awoke me. But
why do you not sleep?”

“ Because I rode away.”

“Where?”

“To a drug store.”

“To a drug store?”

“Yes, for quinine.”

The little girl did not indeed relish very much the taste
of the quinine powders which she had taken before, but,
as she regarded them as an infallible remedy for all the
diseases in the world, she sighed and said:

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 309

“T know that you have not got any quinine.”

Stas raised one of the jars towards the fire-pot and
asked with pride and joy:

“And what is this?”

Nell could scarcely believe her eyes, while he said
hurriedly, with beaming countenance: 7

“Now you will be well! I shall wrap up at once a
large dose in a fresh fig peel and you must swallow it.
And you shall see with what you will drink it down. Why
are you staring at me like at a green cat? Yes! I havea
second jar. I got both from a white man, whose camp is
about four miles from here. I have just returned from
him. His name is Linde and he is wounded; neverthe-
less, he gave me a lot of good things. I went to him
on foot, but I returned on horseback. You may think
it is pleasant to go through the jungle at night. Brr!
I would not go a second time for anything, unless I again
needed quinine.”

Saying this, he left the astonished little maid while
he went to the “men’s quarters,” selected from a supply
of figs the smallest one, hollowed it out, and filled the
center with quinine, taking care that the dose should
not be greater than those powders which he had received
in Khartim. After which he left the tree, poured tea
into a utensil with water, and returned to Nell with the
remedy.

And during that time she reflected upon everything
which had happened. She was immensely curious as to
who that white man was. From whence did Stas get the
information about him? Would he come to them, and
would he travel along with them? She did not doubt
that since Stas had secured the quinine she would regain
her health. But Stas during the night-time went through
the jungle as if it were nothing. Nell, notwithstanding

310 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

her admiration for him, had considered, not reflecting
much over it, that everything he did for her was to
be taken as a matter of course, for it is a plain thing
that an older boy ought to protect a little girl. But
now it occurred to her that she would have perished
long ago; that he cared for her immensely; that he
gratified her and defended her as no other boy of his
age would have done or knew how to do. So great grati-
tude overflowed in her little heart, and when Stas entered
again and leaned over her with the remedy she threw
her thin arms around his neck and hugged him heartily.

“Stas, you are very kind to me.”

While he replied:

“And to whom am I to be kind? Why, I like that!
Take this medicine!”’

Nevertheless he was happy; as his eyes glistened with
satisfaction and again with joy and pride, he called, turn-
ing to the opening:

“Mea, serve the ‘ bibi’ with tea, now!”

XII

Stas did not start for Linde’s camp the following day
until noon, for he had to rest after the previous night’s
adventure. On the way, anticipating that the sick man
might need fresh meat, he killed two guinea-fowl, which
were really accepted with gratitude. Linde was very
weak but fully conscious. Immediately after the greeting
he inquired about Nell, after which he warned Stas that
he should not regard quinine as an entirely sure cure for
the fever and that he should guard the little one from
the sun, from getting wet, from staying during the night
in low and damp places, and finally from bad water.
Afterwards Stas related to him, at his request, his own
and Nell’s history from the beginning to the arrival in
Khartiim and the visit to the Mahdi; and afterwards
from Fashoda to their liberation from Gebhr’s hands,
and their further wanderings. The Swiss gazed during
the time of this narration with growing interest, often
with evident admiration, and when the narrative reached
an end he lit his pipe, surveyed Stas from head to foot,
and said as if in a reverie:

“Tf in your country there are many boys like you, then
they will not be able to manage you very easily.”

And after a moment of silence he continued:

“The best proof of the truth of your words is this,
that you are here, that you are standing before me. And
believe what I tell you: your situation is terrible; the

312 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

road, in any direction, is likewise terrible; who knows,
however, whether such a boy as you will not save your-
self and that child from this gulf.”

“Tf Nell only will be well, then I shall do whatever
I can,” exclaimed Stas.

“But spare yourself, for the task which you have before
you is beyond the strength of a mature person. Do you
know where you are at present?”

“No, I remember that after our departure from Fashoda
we crossed, near a great settlement called Deng, some kind
of a river.”

“Sobat,”’ interrupted Linde.

“In Deng there were quite a number of dervishes and
negroes. But beyond Sobat we entered into a region of
jungles and proceeded whole weeks until we reached
the ravine, in which you know what happened —”

“T know. Afterwards you went along the ravine until
you reached this river. Now listen to me; it appears
that after crossing the Sobat with the Sudanese you
turned to the southeast, but more to the south. You
are at present in a locality unknown to travelers and
geographers. The river, near which we are at present,
runs northwest, and in all probability falls into the Nile.
I say in all probability, for I myself do not know and now
cannot satisfy myself upon that point, though I turned
from the Karamojo Mountains to investigate its source.
After the battle, I heard from the dervish prisoners that
it is called Ogeloguen, but even they were not certain,
as they venture into this region only for slaves. The
Shilluk tribe occupy this generally sparsely settled country,
but at present the region is desolate, as the population
partly died of smallpox, partly was swept away by the
Mahdists, and partly sought refuge in the Karamojo
Mountains. In Africa it often happens that a region

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 313

thickly settled to-day becomes desolate to-morrow. Ac-
cording to my calculations you are a hundred and eighty-
six miles, more or less, from Lado. You might escape to
the south to Emin, but as Emin himself is in all probability
besieged by the dervishes, that is not to be thought of.”

“And to Abyssinia?” Stas asked.

“That is also about the same distance away. Yet
you must bear in mind that the Mahdi is waging war
against the whole world and, therefore, against Abyssinia.
I know also from the prisoners that along the western
and southern frontiers greater or smaller hordes of der-
vishes are prowling and you might therefore easily fall
into their hands. Abyssinia indeed is a Christian empire,
but the savage southern tribes are either pagan or profess
Islam and for that reason secretly favor the Mahdi, —
No, you will not get through that way.”

“Well, what am I to do, and where shall I go with Nell?”
Stas asked.

“T told you that your situation is extremely difficult,”
Linde said.

Saying this he put both hands to his head and for a long
time lay in silence.

“The ocean,” he finally said, “is over five hundred and
sixty miles from here; you would have to cross moun-
tains, go among savage peoples, and even pass over deserts,
for it is probable that there are waterless localities. But
the country nominally belongs to England. You might
chance upon transports of ivory to Kismayu, to Lamu
and Mombasa — perhaps upon missionary expeditions.
Realizing that on account of the dervishes I would not
be able to explore the course of this river because it turns
to the Nile, I, too, wanted to go eastward to the ocean.”

“Then we shall return together,” Stas exclaimed.

“T shall never return. Thewart-hog has so badly torn my

314 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

muscles and veins that an infection of the blood must
set in. Only a surgeon could save me by amputating
my leg. Now everything has coagulated and become
numb, but during the first days I bit my hands from
pain —”’

“You surely will get well.”

“No, my brave lad, I surely will die and you will cover
me well with stones, so that the hyenas cannot dig me
out. To the dead it may be all the same, but during life
it is unpleasant to think of it. It is hard to die so far
away from your own —”

Here his eyes were dimmed as though with a mist,
after which he continued thus:

“But I already have become resigned to the idea —
so let us speak about you, not about me. I will give
you this advice. There remains for you only the road
to the east, to the ocean. But take a good rest before
starting and gain strength, otherwise your little companion
will die in the course of a few weeks. Postpone the journey
until the end of the rainy season, and even longer. The
first summer months, when the rain ceases to fall and
the water still covers the marshes, are the healthiest.
Here, where we are, is a plateau lying about twenty-two
hundred and eighty-nine feet above the sea. At the
height of forty-two hundred and fifty feet the fever
does not exist and when brought from the lower places
its course is weaker. Take the little English girl up into
the mountains.”

Talking apparently fatigued him very much, so he
again broke off and for some time impatiently brushed
away the big blue flies; the same kind as those which
Stas saw among the burnt débris of Fashoda.

After this he continued thus:

“Pay close attention to what I tell you. About a

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 315

day’s journey towards the south there is an isolated
mountain, not higher than twenty-six hundred and twenty
feet; it looks like a pan turned upside down. Its sides
are steep, and the only way of reaching it is by a rocky ridge
so narrow that in some places two horses can barely pro-
ceed on it side by side. On its flat top, which is about
thirty-five hundred feet wide, there was a negro village,
but the Mahdists slaughtered and carried away the
residents. It may be that this was done by that same
Smain whom I defeated, but those slaves I did not cap-
ture because he had previously despatched them under
an escort to the Nile. Settle on that mountain. There
is a spring of excellent water, a few manioc fields, and a
multitude of bananas. In the huts you will find a great
many human bones, but do not fear infection from the
corpses, as after the dervishes there were ants there, which
drove us from the place. And now, not a living creature!
Remain in that village a month or two. At sucha height
there is no fever. Nights are cool. There your little
one will recover her health, and you will gain new
strength.”

“And what am I to do afterwards, and where shall
I go?”

“After that it will be as God disposes. Try to get
through to Abyssinia in places situated farther than
where the dervishes have reached, or ride to the east —
I heard that the coast Arabs are reaching some kind of
lake in their search for ivory which they purchase from
the Samburu and Wahima tribes.”

“Wahima? Kali comes from the Wahima tribe.”

Here Stas began to narrate to Linde the manner in
which he inherited Kali after Gebhr’s death and that Kali
had told him that he was the son of the ruler of all the
Wahimas.

316 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS _

But Linde received this information more indifferently
than Stas expected.

“So much the better,” he said, “as he may be helpful
to you. Among the blacks there are honest souls, though
as a rule you cannot depend upon their gratitude; they
are children who forget what happened the day before.”

“Kali will not forget that I rescued him from Gebhr’s
hands, I am sure of that.”

“Perhaps,” Linde said, and pointing at Nasibu added:
“He also is a good child; take him with you after my
death.”

“Do not speak of death, sir.”

“My dear boy,” answered the Swiss, “I desire it —
if it would only come without great agony; consider that
now I am completely unarmed, and if any one of the
Mahdists whom I routed should accidentally stray to
this hollow, alone he could stab me like a sheep.”

Here he pointed to the sleeping negroes.

“They will not wake any more, or rather — I speak in-
correctly — all of them awake for a short time before their
death and in their mental aberration fly to the jungle,
from which they never more return. Of two hundred
men, sixty remained tome. Many ran away, many died
of smallpox, and some fell asleep in other ravines.”

Stas with pity and awe began to gaze at the sleepers. |
Their bodies were ashen-hued, which in negroes indicates
paleness. Some had their eyes closed, others half open;
but these latter slept deeply, for their eyeballs were not
susceptible to the light. The knees of some were swollen.
All were frightfully thin, so that their ribs could be counted
through their skins. Their hands and feet quivered with-
out cessation very rapidly. The big blue flies swarmed
thickly on their eyes and lips.

“Ts there no help for them?” Stas asked.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 317

“There is none. On Victoria Nyanza this disease
depopulates whole villages. Sometimes more severely,
sometimes less. It most frequently takes hold of the
people of the villages situated in the underwood on the
banks.”

The sun had passed to the western sky, but still before
night Linde had related to Stas his history. He was a son
of amerchant of Zurich. His family came from Karlsruhe,
but from the year 1848 had resided in Switzerland. His
father amassed a great fortune in the silk trade. He
educated his son for an engineer, but young Henry was
attracted from early youth by travel. After completing
his studies in a polytechnical school, having inherited
his father’s entire fortune, he undertook his first journey
to Egypt. It was before the Mahdi’s time, so he reached
as faras Khartiim, and hunted with Dongolesein the Sudan.
After that he devoted himself to the geography of Africa
and acquired such an expert knowledge of it that many
geographical societies enrolled him among their members.
This last journey, which was to end so disastrously for him,
began in Zanzibar. He had reached as far as the Great
Lakes and intended to penetrate into Abyssinia along
the Karamojo Mountains, which up to that time were
unknown, and from there to proceed to the ocean coast.
But the natives of Zanzibar refused to go any farther.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, there was a war between
the kings of Uganda and Unyoro. Linde rendered im-
portant services to the king of Uganda, who in exchange
for them presented him with over two hundred body-
guards. This greatly facilitated the journey and the
visit to the Karamojo Mountains, but afterwards smallpox
appeared in the ranks, after that the dreadful sleeping
sickness, and finally the wreck of the caravan.

Linde possessed considerable supplies of various kinds

318 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

of preserved food, but from fear of the scurvy he hunted
every day for fresh meat. He was an excellent shot but
not a sufficiently careful sportsman, and it happened
that when a few days before he thoughtlessly drew near
a wild boar which had fallen from his shot, the beast
started up and tore his legs frightfully, and afterwards
trampled upon his loins. This happened near the camp and
in the sight of Nasibu, who, tearing his shirt and making
bandages of it, was able to check the flow of blood and
lead the wounded man to the tent. In the foot, however,
coagulum was formed from the internal flow of blood
and gangrene threatened the patient.

Stas insisted upon dressing his wounds and announced
that he would come daily, or, so as not to leave Nell
only under the care of the two blacks, he proposed to con-
vey him to “Cracow,” on saddle-cloth, stretched between
two horses.

Linde agreed to the dressing of the wounds, but would
not agree to the removal.

“T know,” he said, pointing at the negroes, “that those
men must die, but until they die, I cannot doom them
to be torn to pieces alive by hyenas, which during the
night-time are held back by the fire.”

- And he began to repeat feverishly:

“T cannot! Icannot! I cannot!”

But he became calm immediately, and continued in a
strange voice:

“Come here to-morrow morning — I have a request
to make of you, and if you can perform it, God may lead
you out of this African gulf, and grant me an easy death.
I wished to postpone this request until to-morrow, but
as I may be unconscious to-morrow I make it to-day.
Take water in some utensil, stop before each one of
those poor sleeping fellows, sprinkle water over him, and

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 319

say these words: ‘I baptize thee, in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost!’ ”’

Here emotion checked his speech and he became silent.

“T reproach myself,” he said after a while, “that I did
not take leave in that manner of those who died of small-
pox and of those who fell into their final slumber. But
now death is hovering over me, and I desire to go together
with even that remnant of my caravan upon the last great
journey.”

Saying this he pointed with his hand at the ruddy sky,
and two tears coursed slowly over his cheeks.

Stas wept like a beaver.

XIII

THE next morning’s sun illuminated a strange spectacle.
Stas walked along the rocky walls, stopped before each
negro, moistened his forehead with water, and pronounced
over him the sacramental words. And they slept with
quivering hands and limbs, with heads drooping on their
breasts or tilted upwards, still alive but already resembling
corpses. And thus took place this baptism of the sleepers
—in the morning stillness, in the luster of the sun, in
the desert gloom. The sky that day was cloudless, a
grayish blue, and as though sad.

Linde was still conscious, but grew weaker and weaker.
After the wounds were dressed, he handed to Stas papers
enclosed in a tin case, entrusted them to his care, and said
nothing more. He could not eat, but thirst tormented
him terribly. Before sunset he became delirious. He
shouted at some imaginary children not to sail too far
away on some unknown lake, and afterwards fell into
chills, and clasped his head with both hands.

On the following day he did not recognize Stas at all,
and at noon, three days later, he died without recovering
consciousness. Stas mourned for him sincerely, and
afterwards with Kali carried him to a neighboring narrow
cave, the opening of which they closed with thorns and
stones.

Stas took little Nasibu to “Cracow,” while Kali was
ordered to watch the supplies at the camp and keep a

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 321

big fire burning near the sleepers. Stas bustled continu-
ally between the two ravines, conveying luggage and
particularly the rifle cartridges, from which he extracted
powder and made a mine for the purpose of blasting the
rock which imprisoned the King. Happily Nell’s health
improved considerably after daily doses of quinine, and the
greater variety of food increased her strength. Stas left
her reluctantly and with fear, and on riding away would
not permit her to leave the tree and closed the opening with
thorny acacia boughs. Owing to the pressure of work
which devolved upon him, he had to leave her, however,
to the care of Mea, Nasibu, and Saba, upon whom after
all he depended the most. Rather than to leave her alone
for any length of time, he preferred to ride a score of
times each day to Linde’s camp for the luggage. He
also overworked himself terribly, but his iron constitution
endured all toil. Nevertheless, not until the tenth day
were all the packs distributed; those of less value were
hidden in caves, and those of more importance were brought
to “Cracow’’; the horses, too, were led onto the promon-
tory and a considerable number of Remington rifles were
carried by them, which rifles were to be borne later by
the King.

During that time in Linde’s camp, from time to time,
some of the sleeping negroes would start up in an ante-
mortem paroxysm of the disease, fly into the jungle, and
return no more; there were some who died on the spot,
and others, rushing blindly, crushed their heads on the
rocks in the camp itself or in the neighborhood. These
Kali had to bury. After two weeks only one remained,
but that one soon died in his sleep from exhaustion.

Finally the time arrived for blasting the rock and the
liberation of the King. He was so tame now that at Stas’
order he seized him with his trunk and placed him on his

322 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

neck. He also had become accustomed to bearing things
which Kali pulled on his back over a bamboo ladder.
Nell insisted that he was too heavily burdened, but in
truth to him it was like a fly, and only the luggage inherited
from Linde could form a respectable load for him. With
Saba, at the sight of whom in the beginning he displayed
uneasiness, he became quite friendly, and played with
him in this manner: he would overturn him on the ground
with his trunk, and Saba would pretend that he was biting.
At times, however, he would unexpectedly souse the dog
with water, which act was regarded by the latter as a
joke of the poorest taste.

The children were principally pleased because the
beast, being quick of comprehension and seriously minded,
understood everything that was wanted of him and
seemed to comprehend, not only every order, but even
every nod. In this respect elephants surpass immeas-
urably all other domesticated animals, and the King,
beyond comparison, surpassed Saba, who wagged his
tail to all of Nell’s admonitions and afterwards did what-
ever he pleased. The King discerned perfectly, for in-
stance, that the person whom it was most necessary to
obey was Stas, and that the person about whom all cared
the most was Nell. So he most carefully complied with
Stas’ orders, and loved Nell the most. To Kali he paid
less heed and Mea he slighted entirely.

Stas, after making the mine, inserted it in the deepest
fissure, after which he plastered it wholly with clay,
leaving only a small opening through which hung a fuse
twisted of dry palm fiber and rubbed with fine powder.
The decisive moment finally arrived. Stas personally
lit the powdered rope, after which he ran as far as his
legs could carry him to the tree in which previously he
had fastened all the others. Nell was afraid that the

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 323

King might be frightened too much, but the boy calmed
her first with the statement that he had selected a day
on which the morning was accompanied by a thunder-
storm, and then with the assurance that wild elephants
often hear the peal of thunder when the heavenly elements
are unfettered over the jungle.

They sat, however, with palpitating hearts, counting
minute after minute. A terrific roar so agitated the at-
mosphere that the sturdy baobab tree shook from top
to bottom and remnants of the unscraped decayed wood
poured upon their heads. Stas, at that moment, jumped
out of the tree and, avoiding the bends of the ravine,
ran to the passageway.

The results of the explosion appeared extraordinary.
One half of the lime rock was reduced to minute frag-
ments; the other half had burst into about a score of
greater or smaller pieces, which the force of the explosion
scattered to quite a distance.

The elephant was free.

The overjoyed boy now rushed to the edge of the ravine,
where he found Nell with Mea and Kali. The King was
startled a little and, retreating to the very brink of the
ravine, stood with uplifted trunk, gazing in the direction
from which came the sound of such unusual thunder.
But when Nell began to call to him, when she came to him
through the passageway, already opened, he became
entirely quiet. More startled than the King were the
horses, of which two dashed into the jungle, and it was
not until sunset that Kali caught them.

That very same day Nell led the King “out into the
world.” The colossus followed her obediently, like a
little puppy, and afterwards bathed in the river, and alone
secured his supper in this singular manner: bracing his
head against a big sycamore tree, he broke it like a

324 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

feeble reed and afterwards carefully nibbled the fruit
and the leaves.

Towards evening he returned, however, to the tree,
and shoving, every little while, his enormous nose through
an opening, sought for Nell so zealously and persistently
that Stas finally was compelled to give his trunk a sound
smack.

Kali, however, was the most overjoyed with the result
of that day, for upon his shoulders had fallen the work of
gathering provisions for the giant, which was by no means
an easy task. So then Stas and Nell heard him, while
lighting the fire for supper, sing a new hymn of joy, com-
posed of the following words:

“The great master kills men and lions. Yah! Yah!
The great master crushes rocks. Yah! Yah! The
elephant, himself, breaks trees and Kali can be idle and
eat. Yah! Yahi

The rainy season, or the so-called “massica,’” was
drawing to an end. There were yet cloudy and rainy
days, but there were also days entirely clear. Stas decided
to remove to the mountain indicated to him by Linde,
and this purpose he carried out soon after the King’s
liberation. Nell’s health did not present any obstacles
now, as she felt decidedly better.

Selecting, therefore, a clear day, they started at noon.
They were not afraid now that they would stray, as the
boy had inherited from Linde, among various articles, a
compass and an excellent field-glass, through which it was
easy to descry distant localities. Besides Saba and the
donkey they were accompanied by five pack-horses and
the elephant. The latter, besides the luggage on his back,
on his neck bore Nell, who between his two enormous
ears looked as though she were sitting in a big arm-chair.
Stas without regret abandoned the promontory and the

é

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 325

baobab tree, for it was associated with the recollection
of Nell’s illness. On the other hand, the little girl gazed
with sad eyes at the rocks, at the trees, at the water-
fall, and announced that she would return there when
she should be “big.”

Sadder still was little Nasibu, who had loved sincerely
his former master, and, at present riding on the donkey
in the rear, he turned around every little while and looked
with tears in his eyes towards the place where poor Linde
would remain until the day of the great judgment.

The wind blew from the north and the day was unusu-
ally cool. Thanks to this they did not have to stop and
wait from ten to three, until the greatest heat was over,
and they could travel a longer distance than is customary
with caravans. The road was not long, and a few hours
before sunset Stas espied the mountain towards which
they were bound. In the distance on the background
of the sky was outlined a long chain of other peaks,
and this mountain rose nearer and lonely, like an island in a
jungle sea. When they rode closer it appeared that its
steep sides were washed by a loop of the river near which
they previously had settled. The top was perfectly flat,
and seen from below appeared to be covered by one dense
forest. Stas computed that since the promontory, on
which their baobab tree grew, was about twenty-three
hundred feet high and the mountain about twenty-six
hundred feet, they would dwell at an elevation of about
forty-nine hundred feet and in a climate not much
warmer, therefore, than that of Egypt. This thought en-
couraged him and urged him to take possession of this
natural fortress as quickly as possible.

They easily found the only rocky ridge which led to
it and began the ascent. After the lapse of half an hour
they stood on the summit. That forest seen from below

326 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

was really a forest — but of bananas. The sight of them
delighted all exceedingly, not excepting the King, and
Stas was particularly pleased, for he knew that there is not
in Africa a more nourishing and healthy food nor a better
preventative of all ailments than the flour of dried banana
fruit. There were so many of them that they would
suffice even for a year.

Amidst the immense leaves of these plants was hidden
the negro village; most of the huts had been burned or
ruined at the time of the attack, but some were still whole.
In the center stood the largest, belonging at one time to
the king of the village; it was prettily made of clay, with
a wide roof forming around the walls a sort of veranda.
Before the huts lay here and there human bones and
skeletons, white as chalk, for they had been cleaned by
the ants of whose invasion Linde spoke. From the time
of the invasion many weeks had already elapsed; never-
theless, in the huts could be smelt the leaven of ants,
and one could find in them neither the big black cock-
roaches, which usually swarm in all negro hovels, nor
spiders nor scorpions nor the smallest of insects.

Everything had been cleaned out by the terrible “siafu.”
It was also a certainty that there was not on the whole
mountain-top a single snake, as even boas fall prey to
these invincible little warriors.

After conducting Nell and Mea into the chief’s hut,
Stas ordered Kali and Nasibu to remove the human bones.
The black boys carried out this order by flinging them
into the river, which carried them farther. While thus
employed, however, they found that Linde was mistaken
in declaring that they would not find a living creature on
the mountain. The silence which reigned after the seizure
of the people by the dervishes and the sight of the bananas
had allured a great number of chimpanzees which built

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 327

for themselves, on the loftier trees, something like um-
brellas or roofs, for protection against rain. Stas did
not want to kill them, but decided to drive them away,
and with this object in view he fired a shot into the air.
This produced a general panic, which increased still
more when after the shot Saba’s furious bass barking re-
sounded, and the King, incited by the noise, trumpeted
threateningly. But the apes, to make a retreat, did not
need to seek the rocky ridge; they dashed over the broken
rocks towards the river and the trees growing near it with
such rapidity that Saba’s fangs could not reach any of them.

The sun had set. Kali and Nasibu built a fire to pre-
pare for supper. Stas, after unpacking the necessary
articles for the night, repaired to the king’s hut, which
was occupied by Nell. It was light and cheerful in the
hut, for Mea had lit, not the fire-pot which had illuminated
the interior of the baobab tree, but a large traveling lamp
inherited from Linde. Nell did not at all feel fatigued
from the journey in a day so cool, and fell into perfect
good humor, especially when Stas announced that the
human bones, which she feared, had been taken away.

“How nice it is here!’ she exclaimed. “Look, even
the floor is covered with resin. It will be fine here.”

“To-morrow I shall fully examine our possessions,”
he answered; “judging, however, by what I have seen
to-day, one could dwell here all his life.”

“Tf our papas were here, then we could. But how will
you name this possession?”

“The mountain ought to be called Mount Linde in geog-
raphies; and let this village be named after you, Nell.”

“Then I shall be in the geographies?” asked she with
great glee.

“You will, you will,’ Stas replied in all seriousness.

XIV

THE next day it rained a little, but there were hours when
the weather was clear, so Stas early in the morning started
to visit his possessions and at noon had viewed thoroughly
all the nooks. The inspection on the whole created a
favorable impression. First, in respect to safety, Mount
Linde was as though the chosen spot of all Africa.
Its sides were accessible only to chimpanzees. Neither
lions nor panthers could climb over its precipitous sides.
As to the rocky ridge, it was sufficient to place the King
at its entrances to be able to sleep safely on both ears.
Stas came to the conclusion that there he could repulse
even a small division of dervishes, as the road leading
to the mountain was so narrow that the King could barely
pass on it and a man armed with a good weapon need
not permit a living soul to reach the top. In the middle
of the “island” gushed a spring, cool and pure as crystal,
which changed into a stream and, running sinuously amid
the banana groves, finally fell over the steep hanging rocks
to the river, forming a narrow waterfall resembling a
white tape. On the southern side of the “island” lay a
field, covered abundantly with manioc, the roots of which
supply the negroes with their favorite food, and beyond
the fields towered immeasurably high cocoa palms with
crowns in the shape of magnificent plumes of feathers.
The “island” was surrounded by a sea of jungle and
the view from it extended over an immense expanse.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 329

From the east loomed lividly the Karamojo Mountain
chain. On the south could also be seen considerable
elevations, which, to judge from their dark hue, were
covered with forests. On the other hand, on the western
side the view ran as far as the horizon’s boundary, at which
the jungle met the sky. Stas descried, however, with
the help of the field-glass, numerous hollows and, scattered
sparsely, mighty trees rising above the grass like churches.
In places, where the grasses had not yet shot up too high,
could be perceived even with the naked eye whole herds
of antelopes and zebras or groups of elephants and buf-
faloes. Here and there giraffes cut through the dark
green surface of the sea of grass. Close by the river a
dozen or more water-bucks disported and others every
little while thrust their horny heads out of the depths.
In one place where the water was calm, fishes like those
which Kali had caught leaped every little while out of the
water, and, twinkling in the air like silvery stars, fell
again into the river. Stas promised to himself to bring
Nell there when the weather had settled and show her
this whole menagerie.

On the “island,”’ on the other hand, there were none
of the larger animals; instead there were a great number
of butterflies and birds. Big parrots, white as snow,
with black beaks and yellow crests flew above the bushes
of the grove; tiny, wonderfully plumaged widow-birds
swung on the thin manicc stalks, changing color and
glittering like jewels, and from the high cocoa trees came
the sounds of the African cuckoos and the gentle cooing
of the turtle-dove.

Stas returned from his inspection trip with joy in his
soul. “The climate,” he said, “is healthy; the security
is perfect, the provisions are abundant, and the place is
as beautiful as Paradise.” Returning to Nell’s hut he

330 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

learned to his surprise that there were larger animals
on the “island”; two, in fact, for little Nasibu had
discovered in a banana thicket while Stas was absent a
goat with a kid, which the dervishes had overlooked. The
goat was a little wild, but the kid at once became friendly
with Nasibu, who was immeasurably proud of his discov-
ery and of the fact that through his instrumentality
“bibi’’ would now have excellent fresh milk daily.

“What shall we do now, Stas?” Nell asked one day,
when she had settled down for good to her housekeeping
on the “island.”

“There is plenty of work to do,” the boy answered,
after which, spreading out the fingers of one hand, he
began to count on them all the work awaiting them.

“In the first place Kali and Mea are pagans, and
Nasibu, as a native of Zanzibar, is a Mohammedan. It
is necessary to enlighten them, teach them the faith, and
baptize them. Then, it is necessary to smoke meat for
our future journey and therefore I must go hunting;
thirdly, having a good supply of rifles and cartridges,
I want to teach Kali to shoot in order that there shall
be two of us to defend you; and fourthly — you probably
forgot about the kites?”

“ About the kites?”

“Yes, those which you will glue, or better still, you
will sew. That shall be your work.”

“T don’t want to play only.”

“That won’t be all play, but work most useful for all.
Don’t think that it will end with one kite for you must
be ready for fifty or more.”

“But why so many?” asked the girl, whose curiosity
was aroused.

So Stas began to explain his plans and hopes. He
would write on each kite their names, how they had es-

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 331

caped from the hands of the dervishes, where they were,
and whither they were bound. He would also inscribe
a request for help and that a message be despatched to
Port Said. After that he would fly these kites every time
the wind was blowing from the west to the east.

“Many of them,” he said, “will fall not far off; many
will be stopped by the mountains, but let only one of
them fly to the coast and fall into European hands —
then we are saved.”

Nell was enchanted with the idea and announced that
in comparison with the wisdom of Stas not even that
of the King could be mentioned. She also was quite
certain that a multitude of the kites would fly even to
their papas, and she promised to glue them from morning
until night. Her joy was so great that Stas, from fear
that she might get a fever, was compelled to restrain her
ardor.

And from that time the work that Stas spoke of began
in earnest. Kali, who was ordered to catch as many
leaping fish as possible, ceased to catch them on a line
and instead made a high fence of thin bamboo, or rather
something in the nature of a trellis, and this sluice he
pulled across the river. In the middle of the trellis was
a big opening through which the fishes had to swim in
order to get into the free water. In this opening Kali
placed a strong net plaited of tough palm ropes, and
in this manner was assured of a bountiful catch.

He drove fish into the treacherous net with the help
of the King, who, led into the water, muddied and stirred
it so that not only those silvery leapers but all other
creatures vanished as far as they could to an unmuddied
depth. On account of this, some damage also occurred,
as several times escaping crocodiles overturned the trellis,
or at times the King did this himself; cherishing for

332 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

crocodiles some sort of inbred hatred, he pursued them,
and when they were in shallow waters he seized them
with his trunk, tossed them onto the bank, and trampled
upon them furiously. They found also in the nets tor-
toises, from which the young exiles made an excellent
broth. Kali dressed the fish and dried them in the sun,
while the bladders were taken to Nell, who cut them open,
stretched them upon a board, and changed them into
sheets as large as the palms of two hands.

She was assisted at this by Stas and Mea, as the work
was not at all easy. The membranes were thicker, indeed,
than that of the bladders of our river fish, but after dry-
ing up they became very frail. Stas after some time dis-
covered that they ought to be dried in the shade. At
times, however, he lost patience, and if he did not aban-
don the design of making kites from the membranes it
was because he regarded them as lighter than paper and
of better proof against rain.

The dry season of the year was already approaching,
but he was uncertain whether rain did not fall during the
summer — particularly in the mountains.

However, he glued kites with paper, of which a large
amount was found among Linde’s effects. The first one,
big and light, was let go in a western wind; it shot up at
once very high, and when Stas cut the string, flew, carried
by a powerful current of air, to the Karamojo mountain
chain. Stas watched its flight with the aid of the field-
glass until it became as small as a butterfly, a little speck,
and until finally it dissolved in the pale azure of the sky.
The following day he let go others made of fish bladder,
which shot up still higher, but on account of the trans-
parency of the membranes soon disappeared entirely
from view.

Nell worked, however, with extraordinary zeal, and

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 333

in the end her little fingers acquired such skill that neither
Stas nor Mea could keep up with her work. She did
not lack strength now. The salubrious climate of Mount
Linde simply regenerated her. The period during which
the fatal third attack could come, had definitely passed.
That day Stas hid himself in a banana thicket and wept
from joy. After a fortnight’s stay on the mountain he
observed that the “Good Mzimu” looked entirely differ-
ent from what she did below in the jungle. Her cheeks
were plumper, her complexion from yellow and transparent
became rosy again, and from under the abundant tufts
of hair, merry eyes full of luster gazed upon the world.
The boy blessed the cool nights, the translucent spring-
water, the flour of dried bananas, and, above all, Linde.

He himself became lean and swarthy, which was
evidence that the fever would not take hold of him, as
sufferers from that disease do not tan from the sun —
and he was growing up and becoming manly. Activity
and physical labor intensified his bravery and strength.
The muscles of his hands and limbs became like steel.
Indeed, he was already a hardened African traveler.
Hunting daily and shooting only with bullets, he became
also a matchless shot.

He did not at all fear the wild animals, for he under-
stood that it was more dangerous for the shaggy-haired and
the spotted hunters of the jungle to meet him than for
him to meet them. Once he killed with a single shot a
big rhinoceros, which, aroused from a light nap under an
acacia, charged at him unexpectedly. He treated with
indifference the aggressive African buffaloes, which at
times disperse whole caravans.

Aside from the gluing of kites and other daily engage-
ments, he and Nell also began the work of converting
Kali, Mea, and Nasibu. But it was harder than they

334 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

expected. The black trio listened most willingly to the
instructions, but received them in their own negro way.
When Stas told them of the creation of the world, about
paradise and about the snake, the teaching proceeded
fairly well, but when he related how Cain killed Abel,
Kali involuntarily stroked his stomach and asked quite
calmly:

“Did he eat him afterwards?”

The black boy always claimed, indeed, that the Wahimas
never ate people, but evidently memory of that custom
still lingered among them as a national tradition.

He likewise could not understand why God did not
kill the wicked “Mzimu,” and many similar things. His
conception of good and evil was too African; in conse-
quence of which there once occurred between the teacher
and pupil this colloquy:

“Tell me,”’ asked Stas, “what is a wicked deed? ”

“Tf any one takes away Kali’s cow,” he answered after
a brief reflection, “that then is a wicked deed.”’

“Excellent!” exclaimed Stas, “and what is a good one?”

This time the answer came without any reflection:

“Tf Kali takes away the cow of somebody else, that is
a good deed.”

Stas was too young to perceive that similar views of
evil and good deeds were enunciated in Europe not only
by politicians but by whole nations.

Nevertheless, slowly, very slowly, the light dawned
in their benighted minds, and that which they could
not comprehend with their heads they understood with
their warm hearts. After a time they were fitted for the
baptismal rites, which were performed with great solem-
nity. The god-parents gave to each child sixteen yards
of white percale and a string of blue beads. Mea, never-
theless, felt somewhat disappointed, for in the simplicity

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 339

of her soul she thought that after the baptism her skin
would at once turn white, and great was her astonishment
when she observed that she remained as black as before.
Nell comforted her, however, with the assurance that now
she possessed a white soul.

XV

Stas instructed Kali also how to shoot from a Remington
rifle, and this instruction proceeded more easily than the
teaching of the catechism. After ten days’ shooting at
a mark and at crocodiles which slept on the sandy river
banks, the young negro killed a big antelope cob; after
that a few ariels and finally a wart-hog. The encounter
with the latter, however, almost resulted in the same kind
of accident which befell Linde, for the wart-hog, which
Kali approached carelessly after the shot, started up sud-
denly and charged at him with tail upraised. Kali, fling-
ing away the rifle, sought refuge in a tree, where he sat
until his cries brought Stas, who, however, found the wild
boar already dead. Stas did not yet permit the boy to
hunt for buffaloes, lions, and rhinoceroses. He himself did
not shoot at the elephants which came to the watering
place, because he had promised Nell that he would never
kill one.

When, however, in the morning or during the after-
noon hours, from above he espied, through the field-glass,
herds of zebras, hartbeests, ariels, or springboks grazing
in the jungle, he took Kali with him. During these ex-
cursions he often questioned the boy about the Wahima
and Samburu nations, with which, desiring to go eastward,
to the ocean coast, they necessarily must come in contact.

“Do you know, Kali,” he asked a certain day, “that
after twenty days on horseback we could reach your
country?”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 337

“Kali does not know where the Wahimas live,” the young
negro answered, sadly shaking his head.

“But I know that they live in the direction in which
the sun rises in the morning, near some great water.”

“Yes! Yes!” exclaimed the boy with amazement
and joy; “Basso-Narok! That in our language means,
great and black water. The great master knows every-
thing.”

“No, for I do not know how the Wahimas would receive
us if we came to them.”

“Kali would command them to fall on their faces before
the great master and before the ‘Good Mzimu.’”

“ And would they obey?”

“Kali’s father wears a leopard’s hide — and Kali, too.”
Stas understood this to mean that Kali’s father was a
king, and that Kali was his oldest son and the future
ruler of the Wahimas.

So he continued to ask further:

“You told me that white travelers visited you and that
the older people remember them.”

“Yes, and Kali has heard that they had a great deal
of percale on their heads.”

“Ah!” thought Stas, “so those were not Europeans,
but Arabs, whom the negroes on account of their
lighter complexion and white dress mistook for white
men.”

Inasmuch, however, as Kali did not remember them
and could not give any more specific details about them,
Stas propounded to him other questions.

“Have not the Wahimas killed any of these men dressed
in white?”

“No! Neither the Wahimas nor the Samburus can do
that.”

“ Why?”

338 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“For they said that if their blood should soak into
the ground the rain would cease to fall.”

“T am glad to hear that they believe so.”

Stas thought for a while, after which he asked:

“Would the Wahimas go with us to the sea, if I promised
them a big quantity of percale, beads, and rifles?”

“Kali goes and the Wahimas also, but the great master
would first have to subdue the Samburus, who are settled
on the other side of the water.”

“And who lives beyond the Samburus?”’

“Beyond the Samburus there are no mountains, and
there is a jungle, and in it lions.”

With this the conversation ended. Stas more and
more frequently thought of the great journey towards
the east, remembering that Linde had said that they
might meet coast Arabs trading in ivory, and perhaps
a missionary expedition. He knew that such a journey
would be a series of terrible hardships for Nell and full
of new dangers, but he realized that they could not remain
all their lives on Mount Linde and it was necessary to
start soon on the journey. The time, after the rainy
season, when water covers the pestilential swamps, and
is to be found everywhere, was the most suitable for the
purpose. The heat could not yet be felt on the high table-
land; the nights were so cool still that it was necessary
to be well covered. But in the jungle below it was con-
‘siderably hotter, and he knew well that intense heat
would soon come. The rain now seldom bedewed the
earth and the water level in the river lowered daily.
Stas assumed that in summer the river would change
into one of those “khors,” of which he saw many in the
Libyan Desert, and that only in the very middle of it
would flow a narrow stream of water.

Nevertheless, he postponed the departure from day

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 339

to day. On Mount Linde it was so well with all, them-
selves as well as the animals! Nell not only was rid of the
fever but of anzemia also; Stas’ head never ached; Kali’s
and Mea’s skins began to shine like black satin; Nasibu
looked like a melon walking on thin legs, and the King,
no less than the horses and the donkey, grew fat. Stas
well knew that they would not until the end of the jour-
ney find another island like this amidst the jungle sea.
And he viewed the future with fear; moreover, they had
in the King great assistance and in case of necessity a
defense.

Thus a week more elapsed before they commenced
preparations for the journey. In moments free from
packing their effects they did not cease, however, to
send out kites with the announcement that they were
going eastward towards some lake, and towards the ocean.
They continued to fly them because they were favored
by a strong western wind, resembling at times a hurri-
cane, which seized and carried them to the mountains and
far beyond the mountains. In order to protect Nell
from the scorching heat, Stas constructed from pieces
of a tent a palanquin in which the little maid was to ride
on the elephant. The King, after a few trials, became
accustomed to this not great burden, as well as to the
fastening of the palanquin on his back with strong palm
ropes. This load after all was a feather in comparison
to others with which it was intended to burden him and
upon the distribution and tying of which Kaliiand Mea
were engaged.

Little Nasibu was commissioned to dry bananas and
grind them into flour between two flat stones. At the
plucking of the heavy bunches of fruit he was assisted
by the King, at which work they overfed themselves to
such an extent that, in the neighborhood of the huts,

340 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

bananas were soon entirely gone, and they had to go to
another plantation lying on the opposite extremity of
the table-land. Saba, who had nothing to do, most
frequently accompanied them on these excursions.

But Nasibu, for his zeal, almost paid with his life, or
at least with captivity of a singular kind. For it happened
that once when he was plucking bananas above the brink
of a steep hanging rock he suddenly beheld in the rocky
gap a hideous face, covered with black hair, blinking
at him with its eyes, and displaying white fangs as though
smiling. The boy was stupefied from terror at first and
then began to scurry away as fast as his legs could carry
him. He ran between ten and twenty paces when a hairy
arm wound around him, he was lifted off his feet, and
the monster, black as night, began to fly with him to the
precipice.

Fortunately the gigantic ape, having seized the boy,
could run only on two feet, in consequence of which Saba,
who was in the vicinity, easily overtook it and buried
his fangs in its back. A horrible fight began, in which
the dog, notwithstanding his powerful stature and strength,
would surely have had to succumb, for a gorilla vanquishes
even a lion. Simians asa rule, however, do not relinquish
their quarry even though their lives and liberty are in
danger. The gorilla, being caught from behind, could
not easily reach Saba; nevertheless, having grabbed
him by the neck with its left hand it had already raised
him, when the ground gave a dull sound under heavy
steps and the King appeared.

One light thwack with the trunk sufficed to prostrate
with a shattered skull and neck the terrible “forest demon,”
as the negroes call the gorilla. The King, however, for
greater certainty or through inborn fury, pinned the
gorilla with his tusks to the ground and afterwards did

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 341

not cease to wreak his vengeance upon it until Stas, dis-
quieted by the roar and howling, came running up with
a rifle and ordered him to stop.

The huge gorilla, with the whites of the eyes rolled up
and fangs displayed, terrible still, though not alive, lay
in a puddle of blood which Saba lapped and which crim-
soned the King’s tusks. The elephant trumpeted tri-
umphantly and Nasibu, ashen from terror, related to
Stas what had happened. The latter pondered for a
while whether or not to bring Nell and show her this
monstrous ape, but abandoned the intention, for sud-
denly he was seized by fear. Of course, Nell often strolled
alone over the island. So something similar might befall
her.

It appeared, therefore, that Mount Linde was not so
safe a shelter as it seemed in the first instance.

Stas returned to the hut and related the incident to
Nell, while she listened with curiosity and fear, opening
wide her eyes and repeating every little while:

“You see what would have happened without the
King.”

“True! With such a nurse one need not fear about
a child. So then, until we leave, do not move a step
without him.”

“When shall we leave?”

“The supplies are ready; the packs distributed; so
it is necessary only to load the animals and we can
start even to-morrow.”

“To our papas!”

“Tf God permits,” Stas answered gravely.

XVI

NEVERTHELESS, they did not start until several days
after this conversation. The departure, after a short
prayer in which they warmly commended themselves
to God, took place at daybreak, six o’clock in the morning.
Stas rode at the head, on horseback, preceded by Saba.
After him the King ambled gravely, moving his ears and
bearing on his powerful back a canvas palanquin and in
the palanquin Nell with Mea; they were followed by
Linde’s horses one after another, tied together with a
long palm rope and carrying numerous packs; and the
procession closed with little Nasibu on the donkey, as
fat as himself.

On account of the early hour, the heat was not at first
oppressive, though the day was clear and from beyond
the Karamojo Mountains the sun rolled magnificently,
not shaded by a cloudlet. But an eastern breeze molli-
fied the intense heat of its rays. At moments there rose
quite a strong wind, under whose breath the grass lay
low and the whole jungle became wavy like the sea. After
the copious rains all vegetation grew so exuberantly that,
in lower places especially, not only the horses were hidden
in the grass, but even the King; so that above the waving
green surface could be seen only the white palanquin,
which moved forward like a launch on a lake. After an
hour’s journey, on a dry, not high elevation, they chanced
upon gigantic thistles having stems as thick as the trunk

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 343

of a tree and flowers the size of a man’s head. On the
sides of some mountains which from a distance appeared
barren they saw furze-bushes about twenty-six feet
high. Other plants which in Europe belong to the smallest
varieties assumed here proportions corresponding to the
thistles and furze-bushes; and gigantic, isolated trees
rose above the jungle, looking like churches. Particu-
larly prominent were fig-trees, called “daro,’ whose
weeping boughs, touching the ground and changing into
new trunks, covered immense spaces, so that each tree
formed as it were a separate grove.

This region, from a distance, seemed like one forest;
nearer, however, it appeared that the great trees grew a
dozen or even some score paces apart. In the northern
direction very few of them could be seen and the region
assumed the character of a mountainous steppe, covered
with an even jungle over which rose only umbrella-like
acacias. The grass there was more greenish, shorter,
and evidently better for pasturage, for Nell from the King’s
back and Stas from heights on which he rode, saw far
greater herds of antelopes than up to that time they had
met elsewhere. The animals sometimes grazed alone
and at times mingled together; gnus, cobs, ariels, antelope-
cows, hartbeests, springboks, and great kudus. Zebras
and giraffes also were not lacking. The herds, at the
sight of the caravan, stopped feeding, raised their heads,
and pricking their ears, gazed at the white palanquin with
extraordinary amazement, after which in a moment
they scampered away, and having run between ten and
twenty paces they again stood still, staring at this object
unknown to them, until, having gratified their curiosity,
they began to graze calmly. From time to time a rhi-
noceros started up suddenly before the caravan with a
crash and in a rage, but in spite of its impetuous nature

344 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

and its readiness to attack everything which comes within
range of its vision, it ran away shamefully at the sight
of the King, whom only the commands of Stas restrained
from pursuit.

An African elephant detests a rhinoceros, and if he finds
its fresh tracks, trusting to superior strength, he follows
until he finds his adversary and commences a combat
in which the rhinoceros is almost always the victim. It
was not easy for the King, who undoubtedly was already
responsible for the death of many, to renounce this habit,
but now he was so tame and was so accustomed to regard
Stas as his master, that hearing his voice and observing
the threatening look in his eyes, he dropped his uplifted
trunk and walked ahead quietly. Stas did not lack a
desire to witness a fight between giants, but he feared
for Nell. If the elephant started on a full run, the palan-
quin might be wrecked, and what is worse, the huge beast
might bump it against a bough, and then Nell’s life
would be in terrible danger. Stas knew from descrip-
tions of hunts which he had read in Port Said that the
tiger-hunters in India fear, more than the tigers, that
the elephant in a panic or in pursuit may dash the howdah
against a tree. Finally, the full run of the giant is so heavy
that no one without impairment of his health could long
endure such rides.

_ On the other hand, the presence of the King removed
a multitude of dangers. The malignant and bold buf-
faloes, which they met that day bound for the little lake
at which all the animals of the vicinity gathered at even-
ing, also scampered away at sight of him and, making a
circuit of the whole lake, drank on the other side. At
night the King, with one hind leg tied to a tree, guarded
the tent in which Nell slept. This was a watch so secure
that though Stas ordered a fire to be built, he regarded

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 345

the erection of a zareba as a superfluous precaution,
though he knew that the lions would not be missing in
a region abounding with such numerous herds of ante-
lopes. In fact, it happened that very night that some
lions began to roar among the gigantic junipers ! growing
on the hillsides. Notwithstanding the blazing fire the
lions, allured by the odor of horses, drew nearer to the
camp; but, when the King became tired of hearing their
voices and suddenly, amid the stillness, his threatening,
thunder-like clarion tones resounded, they hushed as
though abashed, apparently understanding that with
such an individual it was best not to have any direct
dealings. The children slept excellently the balance of
the night, and only at daybreak did they proceed upon
their further journey.

But for Stas anxiety and worry again began. In the
first place, he perceived that they were traveling slowly
and that they could not make more than six miles a day.
Proceeding in this manner they would be able indeed to
reach the Abyssinian frontier after a month, but as Stas
was determined to follow Linde’s advice in every respect,
and Linde had positively claimed that they would not be
able to go through to Abyssinia, there remained only the
road to the ocean. But according to the calculation of
the Swiss they were over six hundred and twenty miles
from the ocean, and that in a direct line; then Mombasa
being situated farther south, the goal was still further;
therefore, the entire journey would require over three
months. With alarm Stas thought that it would be three
months of excessive heat, toil, and dangers from negro
tribes which they might encounter. They were still in a
desolate country from which the population had been

1 Junipers in the Karamojo Mountains in Abyssinia attain the
height of one hundred and sixty feet. See Elisée Reclus.

346 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

driven by the smallpox and news of the dervish raids;
but Africa, on the whole, is quite populous, so sooner or
later they must reach localities inhabited by unknown
races, ruled usually by savage and cruel petty kings. It
was an uncommon task to extricate one’s self with life and
liberty from such difficulties.

Stas relied simply upon this: that if he chanced upon
the Wahima people, he would drill a few tens of warriors
in shooting, and afterwards induce them by great promises
to accompany him to the ocean. But Kali had no idea
where the Wahimas lived; neither could Linde, who had
heard something of the tribe, indicate the way to them,
nor could he designate specifically the locality occupied
by them. Linde had mentioned some great lake, of
which he knew only from narratives, and Kali contended
with positiveness that one side of that lake, which he
called Basso-Narok, was occupied by the Wahimas, and
the other by the Samburus. Now Stas was troubled by
this: that in the geography of Africa, which in the school
in Port Said was taught very thoroughly, there was no
mention made of such a lake. If Kali only had spoken
of it, he would have assumed that it was Victoria Nyanza,
but Linde could not err for he had just come from Vic-
toria, northward, along the Karamojo Mountains, and,
from reports of natives of those mountains, he had come
to the conclusion that this mysterious lake was situated
further east and north. Stas did not know what to think
of it all; he feared, however, that he might not chance
upon the Wahimas at the lake; he feared also the savage
tribes, the waterless jungle, the insurmountable moun-
tains, the tsetse flies which destroy animals; he feared
the sleeping sickness, the fever for Nell, the heat, and that
immeasurable expanse which still separated them from
the ocean.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 347

But after leaving Mount Linde, naught else remained
to do than to go ahead continually eastward. Linde
indeed had said that this journey was beyond the strength
of an experienced and energetic traveler, but Stas had
already acquired a great deal of experience, and as to
energy, why, as Nell was concerned, he determined to
use as much of it as might be necessary. In the mean-
time it was essential to spare the strength of the little
girl; so he decided to travel only from six until ten o’clock
in the forenoon, and to make the second march from three
to six in the afternoon only in case that at the first stopping
place there was no water.

But in the meantime, as the rain fell during the massica
quite copiously, they found water everywhere. The little
lakes, formed by the downpours in the valleys, were still
well filled, and from the mountains flowed here and there
streams, pouring crystalline, cool water in which bathing
was excellent and at the same time absolutely safe, for
crocodiles live only in the greater waters in which fish,
which form their usual food, are to be found.

Stas, however, did not permit the little girl to drink
crude water as he had inherited from Linde a filter whose
action always filled Kali and Mea with amazement.
Both seeing how the filter, immerged in a turbid, whitish
liquid, admitted to the reservoir only pure and translucent
water, lay down with laughter and slapped their knees with
the palms of their hands in sign of surprise and joy.

On the whole, the journey at the beginning progressed
easily. They had from Linde considerable supplies of
coffee, tea, sugar, bouillon, various preserves, and all kinds
of medicine. Stas did not have to save his packs for there
were more of them than they could take along; they did
not lack also various implements, weapons of all calibers,
and sky-rockets, which on encountering negroes might

348 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

prove very useful. The country was fertile; game, there-
fore fresh meat, was everywhere in abundance, likewise
fruit. Here and there in the low lands they chanced upon
marshes, but still covered with water, therefore not
infecting the air with their noxious exhalations. On the
table-land there were none of the mosquitoes which inoc-
ulate the blood with fever. The heat from ten o’clock in
the morning became unbearable but the little travelers
stopped during the so-called “white hours” in the deep
shade of great trees, through the dense foliage of which
not a ray of the sun could penetrate. Perfect health also
favored Nell, Stas, and the negroes.

XVII

On the fifth day Stas rode with Nell on the King, for they
had chanced upon a wide belt of acacias, growing so densely
that the horses could move only on a path beaten down
by the elephant. The hour was early, the morning
radiant and dewy. The children conversed about the
journey and the fact that each day brought them nearer
to the ocean and to their fathers, for whom both con-
tinually longed. This, from the moment of their abduc-
tion from Fayfim, was the inexhaustible subject of all their
conversations, which always moved them to tears. And
they incessantly repeated in a circle that their papas
thought that they already were dead and both were
grieving and in spite of hope were despatching Arabs to
Khartim for news while they were now far away, not
only from Khartfiim but from Fashoda, and after five
days would be still farther until finally they would reach
the ocean, or perhaps before that time, some kind of place
from which they could send despatches. The only person
in the whole caravan who knew what still awaited them
was Stas; — Nell, on the other hand, was most profoundly
convinced that there was nothing in the world which
“Stes”? could not accomplish and she was quite certain
that he would conduct her to the coast. So many times,
anticipating events, she pictured to herself in her little
head what would happen when the first news of them
arrived and, chirping like a little bird, related it to Stas.

350 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“Our papas are sitting,” she said, “in Port Said and weep-
ing, when in comes a boy with a despatch. What is it?
My papa or your papa opens it and looks at the signa-
tures and reads ‘Stas and Nell.’ Then they will rejoice!
Then they will start up to prepare to meet us! Then
there will be joy in the whole house and our papas will
rejoice and everybody will rejoice and they will praise
you and they will come and I shall hug tightly papa’s
neck, and after that we shall always be together — and — ”

And it ended in this: that her chin commenced to
quiver, the beautiful eyes changed into two fountains,
and in the end she leaned her head on Stas’ arm and
wept from sorrow, longing, and joy at the thought of the
future meeting. And Stas, allowing his imagination to
roam into the future, divined that his father would be
proud of him; that he would say to him: “You behaved
as became a Pole;” and intense emotion possessed him
and in his heart was bred a longing, ardor, and courage
as inflexible as steel. “I must,” he said to himself,
“rescue Nell. I must live to see that moment.” And at
such moments it seemed to him that there were no dan-
gers which he was not able to overcome nor obstacles
which he could not surmount.

But it was yet far to the final victory. In the mean-
time they were making their way through the acacia
grove. The long thorns of these trees even made white
marks upon the King’s hide. Finally the grove became
thinner and across the branches of the scattered trees
could be seen in the distance a green jungle. Stas, not-
withstanding that the heat was very oppressive, slipped
out of the palanquin and sat on the elephant’s neck to see
whether there were any herds of antelopes or zebras
within view, for he wished to replenish his supply of meat.

In fact, on the right side he espied a herd of ariels,

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS ool

composed of a few head, and among them two ostriches,
but when they passed the last clump of trees and the
elephant turned to the left, a different sight struck the
eyes of the boy. At the distance of about a third of a
mile he observed a large manioc field and at the border
of the field between ten and twenty black forms apparently
engaged at work in the field.

“Negroes!” he exclaimed, turning to Nell.

And his heart began to beat violently. For a while,
he hesitated as to whether he should turn back and hide
again in the acacias, but it occurred to him that, sooner or
later, he would have to meet the natives in populated
districts and enter into relations with them, and that the
fate of the whole traveling party might depend upon how
those relations were formed; so, after brief reflection,
he guided the elephant towards the field.

At the same moment Kali approached and, pointing
his hand at a clump of trees, said:

“Great master! That is a negro village and there are
women working at the manioc. Shall I ride to them?”

“We will ride together,” Stas answered, “and then you
shall tell them that we come as friends.”

“T know what to tell them, master,” exclaimed the
young negro with great self-assurance.

And turning the horses towards the workers, he placed
the palms of his hands around his lips and began to shout:

“Yambo, he yambo sana!”

At this sound, the women engaged in hoeing the manioc
field started up suddenly and stood as if thunderstruck,
but this lasted only the twinkling of an eye, for after-
wards, flinging away in alarm the hoes and baskets, they
began to run away, screaming, to the trees amidst which
the village was concealed.

The little travelers approached slowly and calmly. In

302 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

the thicket resounded the yelling of some hundred voices,
after which silence fell. It was interrupted finally by
the hollow but loud rumble of a drum, which did not
cease even for a moment.

It was evidently a signal of the warriors for battle, for
three hundred of them suddenly emerged from the thicket.
All stood in a long row before the village. Stas stopped the
King at the distance of one hundred paces and began to
gaze at them. The sun illuminated their well-shaped
forms, wide breasts, and powerful arms. They were armed
with bows and spears. Around their thighs some had
short skirts of heath, and some of monkey skin. Their
heads were adorned with ostrich and parrot feathers,
or great scalps torn off baboons’ skulls. They appeared
warlike and threatening, but they stood motionless and
in silence, for their amazement was simply unbounded
and subdued the desire for fighting. All eyes were fastened
upon the King, on the white palanquin, and the white
man sitting on his neck.

Nevertheless, an elephant was not an unknown animal
to them. On the contrary, they continually live in dread
of elephants, whole herds of which destroy at night their
manioc fields as well as banana and doom-palm plantations.
As the spears and arrows do not pierce the elephant’s
hide, the poor negroes fight the depredators with the help
of fire, with the aid of cries imitating a cockerel’s crow,
by digging pits, and constructing traps made of the trunks
of trees. But that an elephant should become slave of
man and permit one to sit on his neck was something
which none of them ever saw before, and it never entered
into the mind of any of them that anything like that was
possible. So the spectacle which was presented to them
passed so far beyond their understanding and imagination
that they did not know what to do: whether to fight

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 353

or to run where their eyes should lead them, though it
would result in leaving them to the caprice of fate.

So in uncertainty, alarm, and amazement they only
whispered to each other:

“Oh, mother! What creatures are these which have
come to us, and what awaits us at their hands?”

But at this Kali, having ridden within a spear’s throw
of them, stood up in the stirrups and began to shout:

“People! people! Listen to the voice of Kali, the son of
Fumba, the mighty king of the Wahimas on the shores
of Bassa-Narok. Oh listen, listen, and if you understand
his speech, pay heed to each word that he utters.”

“We understand,” rang the answer of three hundred
mouths.

“Let your king stand forth; let him tell his name and
let him open his ears and lips that he may hear better.”

“M’Rua! M’Rua!” numerous voices began to cry.

M’Rua stepped in front of the ranks, but not more
than three paces. He was a negro, already old, tall and
powerfully built, but evidently did not suffer from too much
courage, as the calves of his legs quivered so that he had
to implant the edge of a spear in the ground and support
himself on the shaft in order to stand on his legs.

After his example, the other warriors also drove the
spears into the ground in sign that they wanted to hear
peaceably the words of the arrival.

And Kali again raised his voice.

“M’Rua, and you, M’Rua’s men, you heard that to
you speaks the son of the king of the Wahimas, whose
cows cover as thickly the mountains around the Bassa-
Narok as the ants cover the body of a slain giraffe. And
what says Kali, the son of the king of Wahima? Lo, he
announces to you the great and happy tidings that there
comes to your village the ‘Good Mzimu.’”

304 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

After which he yelled still louder:

“That is so! The Good Mzimu! Ooo!”

In the stillness which ensued could be perceived the
great sensation which Kali’s words created. The wave
of warriors surged back and forth, for some, impelled by
curiosity, advanced a few paces, while others retreated in
fear. M’Rua supported himself with both hands on the
spear — and for some time the hollow silence continued.
Only after a while a murmur passed through the ranks
and individual voices began to repeat “ Mzimu! Mzimu!”’
and here and there resounded shouts of “ Yancig! Yancig!”’
expressive at the same time of homage and welcome.

But Kali’s voice again predominated over the murmurs
and shouts:

“Look and rejoice! Lo, the ‘Good Mzimu’ sits there
in that white hut on the back of the great elephant and
the great elephant obeys her as a slave obeys a master
and like a child its mother! Oh, neither your fathers nor
you have seen anything like that.”

“We have not seen! Yancig! Yancig

And the eyes of all warriors were directed at the “hut,”
or rather at the palanquin.

And Kali, who during the religious instructions on
Mount Linde had learned that faith moves mountains,
was deeply convinced that the prayer of the little white
“bibi” could procure everything from God; so he spoke
thus further and in perfect sincerity:

“Listen! Listen! The ‘Good Mzimu’ is riding on an
elephant in the direction in which the sun rises, beyond
the mountains out of the waters; there the ‘Good Mzimu’
will tell the Great Spirit to send you clouds, and those
clouds during a drought will water with rain your millet,
your manioc, your bananas, and the grass in the jungle,
in order that you may have plenty to eat and that your

1?)

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 355

cows shall have good fodder and shall give thick and
fat milk. Do you want to have plenty of food and milk
— oh, men?”

“He! We do, we do!”

“And the ‘Good Mzimu’ will tell the Great Spirit to
send to you the wind, which will blow away from your
village that sickness which changes the body into a honey-
comb. Do you want him to blow it away —oh, men?”

“He! Let him blow it away!”

“And the Great Spirit at the prayer of the ‘Good
Mzimu’ will protect you from attacks and slavery and
from depredations in your fields and from the lion and
from the panther and from the snake and from the lo-
cust —”’

“Let her do that.”

“So, listen yet and look who sits before the hut between
the ears of the terrible elephant. Lo, there sits bwana
kubwa, the great and mighty white master, whom the
elephant fears!”

Poel.

“Who has thunder-bolts in his hand and kills with it
bad men —”

“He!”

“Who kills lions —”’

“He!”

“Who lets loose fiery snakes —”

el

“Who crushes rocks —”

ae):

“Who, however, will do you no harm, if you will
honor the ‘Good Mzimu.’”

“Yancig! Yancig!”

“ And if you will bring to him an abundance of dry flour
from bananas, eggs of chickens, fresh milk, and honey.”

356 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“Yancig! Yancig!”

“So approach and fall on your faces before the ‘Good
Mzimu!’”

M’Rua and his warriors started and, not ceasing to
“yancig” for a moment, advanced between ten and
twenty paces, but they approached cautiously, for a
superstitious fear of the “Mzimu” and downright terror
before the elephant impeded their steps. The sight of
Saba startled them anew as they mistook him for a “ wobo,”’
that is, a big, yellowish-brown leopard, which lives in
that region as well as in Southern Abyssinia, and whom
the natives fear more than a lion, for it prefers human
flesh above all other, and with unheard-of daring attacks
even armed men. They quieted, however, seeing that
the little obese negro held the terrible “wobo” on a rope.
But they were acquiring a still greater idea of the power of
the “Good Mzimu,”’ as well as of the white master, and,
staring now at the elephant then at Saba, they whispered
to each other: “If they bewitched even the ‘wobo,’
who in the world can oppose them?” But the most
solemn moment did not come until Stas, turning to Nell,
first bowed profoundly and afterwards drew aside the
curtain-like walls of the palanquin and exhibited to the
eyes of the crowd the “Good Mzimu.” M’Rua and all
the warriors fell on their faces so that their bodies formed
a long, living deck. Not one of them dared to move, and
fear prevailed in all hearts all the more when the King,
either at Stas’ order or of his own volition, raised his
trunk and began to trumpet strongly; and after his
example Saba emitted the deepest bass of which he was
capable. Then from all breasts issued, resembling en-
treating groans, “Aka! Aka! Aka!” and this continued
until Kali again addressed them.

“Oh, M’Rua, and you, children of M’Rua! You have

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 307

paid homage to the ‘Good Mzimu’; therefore rise, gaze,
and fill your eyes, for whoever does that gains the bless-
ing of the Great Spirit. Drive away, also, fear from
your breasts and bellies and know that wherever the
‘Good Mzimu’ sojourns, human blood cannot be shed.”

At these words, and particularly as a result of the an-
nouncement that in the presence of the “Good Mzimu”’
no one can meet death, M’Rua rose, and after him the
other warriors, and began to gaze, bashfully but eagerly
at the kind divinity. Indeed, they would have to acknowl-
edge, if Kali again should ask them about it, that neither
their fathers nor they ever had beheld anything like it.
For their eyes were accustomed to monstrous figures
of idols, made of wood and shaggy cocoanuts, and now
there appeared before them on an elephant’s back a bright
divinity, gentle, sweet, and smiling, resembling a white
bird, and at the same time a white flower. So, too, their
fears passed away, their breasts breathed freely; their
thick lips began to grin and their hands were involuntarily
stretched out towards the charming phenomenon.

“Oh! Yancig! Yancig! Yancig!”

Nevertheless, Stas, who was watching everything
with the closest possible attention, observed that one of
the negroes, wearing a pointed cap of rats’ skin, slunk
away from the ranks immediately after Kali’s last words
and, crawling like a snake in the grass, turned to an iso-
lated hut standing apart, beyond the enclosure, but
surrounded likewise by a high stockade bound by climbing
plants.

In the meantime the “Good Mzimu,” though greatly
embarrassed by the réle of a divinity, at Stas’ request
stretched out her little hand and began to greet the
negroes. The black warriors watched with joy in their
eyes each movement of that little hand, firmly believing it

358 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

possessed powerful “charms,” which would protect them
and secure them against a multitude of disasters. Some,
striking their breasts and hips, said: “Oh, mother, now it
will be well—for us and our cows.’ M’Rua, now en-
tirely emboldened, drew near the elephant and prostrated
himself once more before the “Good Mzimu” and after
that, bowing to Stas, spoke in the following manner:

“Would the great master, who leads the white divinity
on the elephant, be pleased to eat a small piece of M’Rua,
and would he consent that M’Rua should eat a small
piece of him, in order that they should become brothers,
among whom there is no falsehood and treachery?”

Kali at once translated these words, but perceiving
from Stas’ countenance that he did not have the slightest
desire to eat a small piece of M’Rua, turned to the old
negro and said:

“Oh, M’Rua! Do you really think that the white
master, whom the elephant fears, who holds thunder-
bolts in his hands, who kills lions, to whom the ‘wobo’
wags its tail, who lets loose fiery snakes and crushes rocks,
could form a blood brotherhood with a mere king?
Reflect, oh, M’Rua, whether the Great Spirit would not
punish you for your audacity, and whether it is not enough
of glory for you if you eat a small piece of Kali, the son of
Fumba, the ruler of the Wahimas, and if Kali, the son of
Fumba, eats a small piece of you?”

“Are you not a slave?”’ M’Rua asked.

“The great master did not seize Kali, neither did he buy
him; he only saved his life; therefore Kali is conducting
the ‘Good Mzimu’ and the master to the country of the
Wahimas in order that the Wahimas and Fumba should
pay honors to them and give them great gifts.”’

“Let it be as you say and let M’Rua eat a small piece
of Kali and Kali a small piece of M’Rua.”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 309

“Tet it be so,” repeated the warriors.

“Where is the fetish-man?”’ the king asked.

“Where is the fetish-man? Where is the fetish-man?
Where is Kamba?”’ numerous voices began to call.

Then something occurred which might change entirely
the state of affairs, embroil the friendly relations, and make
the negroes enemies of the newly arrived guests. From
the hut standing apart and surrounded by a separate
stockade, there suddenly resounded an infernal din. It
was like the roar of a lion, like thunder, like the rumbling
of a drum, like the laughter of a hyena, the howling of a
wolf, and like the shrill creaking of rusty iron hinges.
The King hearing these dreadful sounds, began to trum-
pet, Saba barked, the donkey, on which Nasibu sat,
brayed.’ The warriors leaped as if scalded, and pulled the
spears out of the ground. Confusion ensued. Stas’ ears
were assailed by the uneasy shouts of: “Our Mzimu!
Our Mzimu!” The esteem and favor, with which they
looked at the arrivals, vanished in one moment. The
eyes of the savages began to cast suspicious and hostile
glances. Threatening murmurs began to rise among the
crowd and the horrible noise in the isolated hut increased
more and more.

Kali was terrified and, approaching Stas quickly, said
in a voice broken with emotion:

“Master! the fetish-man has awakened the wicked
Mzimu, who fears that he will lose gifts and is roaring in
a rage. Master, quiet the fetish-man and the wicked
Mzimu with great gifts, for otherwise these men will turn
against us.”

“Quiet them?” Stas asked.

And suddenly he was possessed by anger at the per-
versity and greed of the fetish-man; and the unexpected
danger roused him to the bottom of his soul. His swarthy

360 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

face assumed the same expression which it had when he
shot Gebhr, Chamis, and the Bedouins. His eyes glittered
ominously; his lips were compressed and his cheeks paled.

“Ah! Ill quiet them!” he said.

And without any reflection he drove the elephant
towards the hut.

Kali, not desiring to remain alone among the negroes,
ran after him. From the breasts of the savage warriors
there came a shout — it was not known whether of alarm
or of rage, but, before they recovered their wits, the stock-
ade under the pressure of the elephant’s head crashed and
tumbled; after that the clay walls of the hut crumbled
and amid dust the roof flew up in the air; and after a
while M’Rua and his men saw the black trunk raised
high and at the end of the trunk the fetish-man, Kamba.

And Stas, observing on the floor a big drum made of the
hollowed trunk of a tree with monkey skin stretched over
it, ordered Kali to hand it to him and, returning, stopped
directly among the amazed warriors.

“Men!” he said in a loud voice, “it is not your Mzimu
who roars; it is this rogue who makes the noise on the
drum to wheedle gifts out of you, and whom you fear
like children!”

Saying this, he seized the rope drawn through the dried-
up skin of the drum and began to twirl it around with all
his strength. The same sounds which had previously
so startled the negroes resounded now, and even more
shrilly, as they were not muffled by the walls of the hut.

“Oh, how stupid are M’Rua and his children!” shouted
Kali.

Stas gave the drum back to Kali while the latter began
to make a noise with it with such zeal that for a while a
word could not be heard. When finally he had enough,
he flung the drum at M’Rua’s feet.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 361

“This is your Mzimu,”’ he exclaimed, with great laughter.

After which he began with the usual negro exuberance
of words to address the warriors; at which he was not at
all sparing of jeers at them and at M’Rua. He declared
to them, pointing at Kamba, that “that thief in the cap
made of rat’s skin” cheated them through many rainy
and dry seasons and they fed him on beans, flesh of kids,
and honey. Is there another king and nation as stupid
in the world? They believed in the power of the old
deceiver and in his charms, and look now, how that great
fetish-man hangs from the elephant’s trunk and is crying
“Aka!”’ to arouse the pity of the white master. Where is
his power? Where are his charms? Why does not any
wicked Mzimu roar in his defense? Ah! What is this,
their Mzimu? A clout of monkey skin and piece of wood
hollowed through decay which the elephant will tread to
pieces. Among the Wahimas, neither the women nor the
children would be afraid of such a Mzimu, and M’Rua
and his men fear him. There is only one genuine Mzimu
and one really great and powerful master. Lét them pay
honors to them; let them bring as many gifts as they
possibly can, as otherwise calamities, of which they hitherto
have not heard, will befall them.

For the negroes even these words were unnecessary as
the fetish-man, together with his wicked Mzimu, appeared
so vastly weaker than the new divinity and the white
master, that it sufficed most fully to make them desert him
and load him with contempt. So they commenced anew
to “ yancig”’ with even greater humility and haste. But as
they were angry at themselves because they had allowed
Kamba to cheat them for so many years, they wanted, by
all means, to kill him. M’Rua himself begged Stas to
allow him to bind and keep him until he could devise a
sufficiently cruel death. Nell, however, was determined to

362 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

spare his life, and as Kali had announced that wherever
the ‘‘Good Mzimu” sojourns human blood cannot be
shed, Stas consented only to the expulsion of the hapless
fetish-man from the village.

Kamba, who expected that he would die in the most
ingeniously devised tortures, fell on his face before the
“Good Mzimu”’ and, blubbering, thanked her for saving
his life. From beyond the stockade women and children
poured, for the news of the arrival of the extraordinary
guests had already spread over the whole village, and the
desire to see the white Mzimu overcame their terror.
Stas and Nell for the first time saw a settlement of real
savages, which even the Arabs had not succeeded in
reaching. The dress of these negroes consisted only of
heath or skins tied around their hips; all were tattooed.
Men as well as women had perforated ears, and in the
opening, chunks of wood or bone so big that the expanded
lobes reached the shoulders. In the lower lips they
carried “peleles,” that is, wooden or bony rings as large
as saucers. The more distinguished warriors and their
wives had around their throats collars of iron or brass
wire so high and stiff that they could barely move their
heads.

They apparently belonged to the Shilluk tribe, which
extends far into the east, for Kali and Mea understood
their speech excellently and Stas partly. They did not
have, however, limbs as long as their kindred living on
the overflowing banks of the Nile; they were broader in
the shoulders, not so tall, and generally less like wading
birds. The children looked like fleas and, not being yet
disfigured by “peleles,” were, without comparison, better
looking than the older people.

The women, having first from a distance sated their
eyes with looking at the “Good Mzimu,” began to vie with

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 363

the warriors in bringing gifts to her, consisting of kids,
chickens, eggs, black beans, and beer brewed of millet.
This continued until Stas stopped the afflux of supplies;
as he paid for them liberally with beads and colored per-
cale, and Nell distributed between ten and twenty looking-
glasses inherited from Linde, immense joy reigned in the
whole village; and around the tent, in which the little
travelers sought shelter, shouts, happy and full of en-
thusiasm, continually resounded. After that, the war-
riors performed a war-dance in honor of the guests and
fought a sham battle, and finally they proceeded to form
a blood brotherhood between Kali and M’Rua.

Owing to the absence of Kamba, who for this ceremony
was usually indispensable, his place was taken by an old
negro sufficiently conversant with the adjuration. The
latter, having killed a kid and extracted its liver, divided
it into fair-sized morsels; after which he began to turn
a kind of spinning-wheel with his hand and foot and, gaz-
ing now at Kali and then at M’Rua, addressed them in
a solemn voice:

“Kali, son of Fumba, do you desire to eat a piece of
M’Rua, the son of M’Kuli, and you, M’Rua, son of
M’Kuli, do you desire to eat a piece of Kali, the son of
Fumba?”’

“We do,” announced the future brethren.

“Do you desire that the heart of Kali should be the
heart of M’Rua and the heart of M’Rua the heart of
Kali?”

“We do.”

“ And the hands and the spears and the cows?”

“ And the cows!”

“And everything which each one possesses and will
possess?”

“ And what he possesses and will possess.”

364 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“And that there should not be between you falsehood,
nor treachery, nor hatred?”

“Nor hatred!”

“* And that one shall not pilfer from the other? ”’

“ Never! ”’

“And that you shall be brethren? ”’

e Yes!

The wheel turned more and more rapidly. The war-
riors, gathered around, watched its revolutions with ever-
increasing interest.

“Ao!” exclaimed the aged negro, “if one of you
deceives the other by lies, if he betrays him, if he steals
from him, if he poisons him, may he be accursed!”

“May he be accursed!” repeated all the warriors.

“And if he is a liar and is plotting treason, let him not
swallow the blood of his brother, and let him spit it out
before our eyes.”

“Oh, before our eyes!”

“And let him die!”

“Let him die! ”

“Let him be torn to pieces by a wobo!”

“Wobo!”’

"Ora liont:

“Or a lion!” ;

“May he be trampled upon by an elephant and a
rhinoceros and a buffalo!”

“Oh — and a buffalo!” repeated the chorus.

“May he be bit by a snake! ”

“Snake!”

“And may his tongue become black!”

“Black!”

“And his eyes sink to the back of his head!”

“To the back of his head!”

“And may he walk on his heels upward!”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 365

“Ha! on his heels upward!”

Not only Stas but Kali bit his lips in order not to burst
out laughing. In the meantime adjurations were repeated,
more and more horrible, and the wheel kept spinning so
quickly that the eyes could not keep pace with its whirl.
This continued until the old negro entirely lost his strength
and breath.

Then he squatted on the ground, and for some time
nodded his head in both directions in silence. After a
while, however, he rose and taking a knife, cut with it
the skin at Kali’s shoulder and smearing a piece of kid’s
liver with his blood, shoved it into M’Rua’s mouth; the
other piece smeared in the king’s blood he shoved into
Kali’s mouth. Both swallowed so quickly that their wind-
pipes began to play, and their eyes bulged out; after
which they grabbed hold of hands in sign of loyal and
everlasting friendship.

The warriors on the other hand began to shout with
glee:

“Both swallowed; neither spat it out; therefore they
are sincere and there is no treachery between them.”

And Stas in his soul thanked Kali that he had acted
as his proxy at this ceremony, for he felt that at the swal-
lowing of “a piece” of M’Rua he undoubtedly would
have given proof of insincerity and treachery.

From that moment, however, the little travelers were
not threatened on the part of the savages with deceit or
any unexpected attacks; on the contrary they were treated
with a hospitality and an esteem almost god-like. This
esteem increased when Stas, after making an observation
on a barometer, a great heritage from Linde, predicted
rain, and when rain fell that very same day quite copiously,
as though the massica! desired to shake off the rest of

1 The spring rainy season, which had just passed.

366 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

its supplies upon the earth, the negroes were convinced
that this downpour was the gift of the “Good Mzimu” and
their gratitude to Nell was unbounded. Stas joked with
her about this, saying that since she had become a negro
divinity he would proceed alone on his further journey
and leave her in M’Rua’s village, where the negroes would
erect for her a chapel of ivory, and would bring beans
and bananas to her.

But Nell had no uncertainty, and, standing on her
little toes, whispered in his ear, according to her custom,
only four words: “You won’t leave me!”’ After which
she began to leap from joy, saying that since the negroes
were so kind, the whole journey to the ocean would be
easy and quick. This happened in front of the tent and
in the presence of the crowd, so old M’Rua, seeing a
jumping Mzimu, began at once to leap as high as he could
with his crooked shanks in the conviction that through
that act he gave proof of his piety. In emulation of their
superior “the ministers” started to leap, and after them
the warriors, and later the women and children; in a
word, the whole village for some time was jumping as
if all had lost their wits.

This example given by the divinity amused Stas so
much that he lay down and roared with laughter. Never-
theless, during the night-time he rendered to the pious
king and his subjects a real and enduring service, for when
the elephants made depredations upon their banana
field he drove towards them on the King and shot a few
rockets among the herd. The panic caused by the “fiery
snakes”? surpassed even his expectation. The huge
beasts, seized by a frenzy of terror, filled the jungle with
a roar and the noise of hoofs, and, escaping blindly,
tumbled down and trampled upon one another. The
mighty King chased after his flying companions with

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 367

extraordinary alacrity, not sparing blows of his trunk
and tusks. After such a night one could be certain that
not an elephant would appear in the banana and doom-
palm plantations belonging to the village of old M’Rua.

In the village great joy also reigned, and the negroes
passed the whole night in dancing and drinking beer of
millet and palm wine. Kali learned from them, however,
many important things; it appeared that some of them
had heard of some great water lying east and surrounded
by mountains. For Stas this was proof that the lake, of
which no mention was made in the geography which he
had studied, actually existed; also, that going in the
direction which they had selected, they would finally
encounter the Wahima people. Inferring from the fact
that Mea’s and Kali’s speech differed very little from
M’Rua’s speech, he came to the conclusion that the name
of “Wahima” was in all probability the designation of
a locality, and that the peoples living on the shores of
“Bassa-Narok” belonged to the great Shilluk tribe,
which begins on the Nile and extends, it is not known
how far, to the east.

XVIII

TuHE population of the whole village escorted afar the
“Good Mzimu” and took leave of her with tears, begging
vehemently that she would deign to come sometime
to M’Rua, and to remember his people. Stas for some
time hesitated whether he should point out to the negroes
the ravine in which he had hidden the wares and supplies
left by Linde, which owing to want of porters he could
not take with him, but reflecting that the possession of
such treasures might evoke envy and discord among
them, awaken covetousness, and embroil the peace of
their lives, he abandoned this design, and, instead, shot
a big buffalo and left its meat for a farewell feast. The
sight of such a large amount of “niama”’ also really
delighted them.

For the following three days the caravan again pro-
ceeded through a desolate country. The days were scorch-
ing, but, owing to the high altitude of the region, the nights
were so cold that Stas ordered Mea to cover Nell with
two shaggy coverlets. They now often crossed mountain-
ous ravines, sometimes barren and rocky, sometimes
covered with vegetation so compact that they could force
their way through it only with the greatest difficulty.
At the brinks of these ravines they saw big apes and
sometimes lions and panthers. Stas killed one of them at
the entreaty of Kali, who afterwards dressed himself in
its hide in order that the negroes might at once know
that they had to do with a person of royal blood.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 369

Beyond the ravines, on high table-lands, negro villages
again began to appear. Some lay near together, some
at the distance of a day or two. All were surrounded by
high stockades for protection against lions, and these were
so entwined with creepers that even close at hand they
looked like clumps of a virgin forest. Only from the
smoke rising from the middle of the village could one
perceive that people dwelt there. The caravan was every-
where received more or less as at M’Rua’s village; that
is, at first with alarm and distrust and afterwards with
admiration, amazement, and esteem. Once only did it
happen that the whole village, at the sight of the elephant,
Saba, the horses, and the white people, ran away to an
adjacent forest, so that there was no one to converse
with. Nevertheless, not a spear was aimed against the
travelers, for negroes, until Mohammedanism fills their
souls with cruelties and hatred against infidels, are rather
timid and gentle. So it most frequently happened that
Kali ate a “ piece” of the local king and the local king a
“piece” of Kali, after which the relations were of the most
friendly character. To the “Good Mzimu,” the negroes
furnished evidence of homage and piety in the shape of
chickens, eggs, and honey, extracted from wooden logs
suspended from the boughs of great trees with the aid
of palm ropes. The “great master,” the ruler of the ele-
phant, thunder, and fiery snakes, aroused mainly fear,
which soon, however, changed into gratitude when they
became convinced that his generosity equaled his might.
Where the villages were closer to one another the arri-
val of the extraordinary travelers was announced from
one village to the other by the beating of drums, for the
negroes give notice of everything with the aid of drum-
ming. It happened also that the entire populace would
come out to meet them, being well disposed in advance.

370 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

In one village, numbering one thousand heads, the
local ruler, who was fetish-man and king in the same
person, consented to show them “the great fetish,’ which
was surrounded by such extraordinary veneration and
fear that the people did not dare to approach the ebony
chapel, covered with a rhinoceros hide, and make offerings
any nearer than fifty paces. The king stated that this
fetish not long before fell from the moon, that it was
white and had a tail. Stas declared that he himself at
the command of the ‘‘ Good Mzimu”’ sent it, and in saying
that he did not deviate from the truth, for it appeared
that the “great fetish’? was plainly one of the kites,
despatched from Mount Linde. Both children were
pleased with the thought that other kites in a suitable
wind might fly still further. They determined to fly others
from heights in the farther course of time. Stas made
and sent out one that very same night, which convinced
the negroes that the “Good Mzimu” and the white mas-
ter also came to earth from the moon, and that they
were divinities who could not be served with sufficient
humility.

But more delightful to Stas than these marks of hu-
mility and homage was the news that Bassa-Narok lay
only about thirteen days’ distance and that the denizens
of the village in which they stopped at times received
from that direction salt in exchange for doom-palm wine.
The local king had even heard of Fumba, as the ruler of
the people called “Doko.” Kali confirmed this by say-
ing that more distant neighbors so called the Wahimas
and Samburus. Less consoling was the news that on the
shores of the great water a war was raging, and to go to
Bassa-Narok it was necessary to cross immense, wild
mountains and steep ravines, full of rapacious beasts.
But Stas now did not much heed rapacious beasts, and

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 371

he preferred mountains, though the wildest, to the low
plain country where fever lay in wait for travelers.

In high spirits they started. Beyond that populous
village they came to only one settlement, very wretched
and hanging like a nest on the edge of a chasm. After
that the foot-hills began, cut rarely by deep fissures. On
the east rose a hazy chain of peaks, which from a distance
appeared entirely black. This was an unknown region
to which they were bound, not knowing what might be-
fall them before they reached Fumba’s domains. In the
highlands which they passed trees were not lacking, but
with the exception of dragon-trees and acacias standing
alone they stood in clusters, forming small groves. The
travelers stopped amid these clumps for refreshment and
rest as well as for the abundant shade.

Amid the trees birds swarmed. Various kinds of pigeons,
big birds with beaks, which Stas called toucans, starlings,
turtle-doves, and countless beautiful “bingales” flitted
in the foliage or flew from one clump to another, singly
and in flocks, changing color like the rainbow. Some trees
appeared from a distance to be covered with many-colored
flowers. Nell was particularly charmed by the sight of
paradisaical fly-catchers and rather large, black birds,
with a crimson lining to the wings, which emitted sounds
like a pastoral fife. Charming woodpeckers, rosy on
top and bright blue beneath, sped in the sun’s luster,
catching in their flight bees and grasshoppers. On the
treetops resounded the screams of the green parrot, and
at times there reached them sounds as though of silvery
bells, with which the small green-gray birds hidden under
Adansonia leaves greeted one another.

Before sunrise and after sunset flocks of native spar-
rows flew by, so countless that were it not for their twitter
and the rustle of their little wings they would be mis-

372 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

taken for clouds. Stas assumed that it was their pretty
little bills which rang so, while in daytime they were
scattered on single clumps.

But other birds flying in little flocks, which gave real
concerts, filled both children with the greatest surprise
and ecstasy. Every little flock consisted of five or six
females and one male, with glittering metallic feathers.
They sat on a single acacia in this particular manner: the
male was perched on the top of the tree and the others
lower, and after the first notes, which seemed like the
tuning of their little throats, the male began a song and
the others listened in silence. Only when he had finished
did they repeat together in a chorus the last refrain of his
song. After a brief pause, he resumed and finished, and
they again repeated; after this the whole flock flew in
a light wavy flight to the nearest acacia and the concert,
composed of the soloist and chorus, again resounded in
the southern stillness. The children could not listen
enough to this. Nell, catching the leading tune of the
concert, joined with the chorus and warbled in her thin
little voice the notes resembling the quickly repeated
sound of “tui, tui, tui, twiling-ting! ting!’

Once the children, following the winged musicians from
tree to tree, went away over half a mile from the camp,
leaving in it the three negroes, the King, and Saba. Stas
was about to start on a hunting trip and did not
want to take Saba with him, for fear that his barking
might scare away the game. When the little flock finally
flew to the last acacia on the other side of a wide ravine, the
boy stopped Nell and said:

“Now I will escort you to the King and after that I shall
see whether there are any antelopes or zebras in the high
jungle, for Kali says that the smoked meats will not last
longer than two days.”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 373

“Why, I am big now,” answered Nell, who was always
anxious to make it appear that she was not a little child,
“so I will return alone. We can see the camp perfectly
from here, and the smoke also.”’

“T am afraid that you may stray.”

“T won’t stray. In a high jungle we might stray, but
here, see how low the grass is!”’

“Still, something may happen to you.”

“You yourself said that lions and panthers do not hunt
in the daytime. Besides, you hear how the King is trum-
peting from longing after us. What lion would dare to
hunt there where the sound of the King reaches? ”’

And she began to importune:

“Stas, dear, I will go alone, like a grown-up.”

Stas hesitated for a while but finally assented. The
camp and smoke really could be seen. The King, who
longed for Nell, trumpeted every little while. In the low
grass there was no danger of going astray, and as to lions,
panthers, and hyenas, there plainly could be no talk of them
as these animals seek prey during the night. The boy
after all knew that nothing would afford the little maid
greater pleasure than if he acted as though he did not
regard her as a little child.

“Very well,” he said, “go alone, but go directly, and do
not tarry on the way.”

“And may I pluck just those flowers?” she asked,
pointing at a cusso bush, covered with an immense number
of rosy flowers.

“You may.”

Saying this, he turned her about, pointed out to her
once more for greater certainty the clump of trees from
which the smoke of the camp issued and from which re-
sounded the King’s trumpeting, after which he plunged
into the high jungle growing on the brink of the ravine.

374 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

But he had not gone a hundred paces when he was
seized by uneasiness. “Why, it was stupid on my part,”
he thought, ‘‘to permit Nell to walk alone in Africa.
Stupid, stupid. She is such a child! I ought not to
leave her for a step unless the King is with her. Who
knows what may happen! Who knows whether under
that rosy bush some kind of snake is not lying! Big
apes can leap out of the ravine and carry her away from
me or bite her. God forbid! I committed a terrible
folly.”

And his uneasiness changed into anger at himself, and
at the same time into a terrible fear. Not reflecting any
longer, he turned around as if stung by a sudden evil
presentiment. Walking hurriedly, he held the rifle ready
to fire, with that great dexterity which he had acquired
through daily hunting, and advanced amid the thorny
mimosas without any rustle, exactly like a panther when
stealing to a herd of antelopes at night. After a while
he shoved his head out of the high underwood, glanced
about and was stupefied.

Nell stood under a cusso bush with her little hand out-
stretched; the rosy flowers, which she had dropped in
terror, lay at her feet, and from the distance of about
twenty paces a big tawny-gray beast was creeping towards
her amid the low grass.

Stas distinctly saw his green eyes fastened upon the
little maid’s face, which was as white as chalk, his narrow
head with flattened ears, his shoulder-blades raised up-
ward on account of his lurking and creeping posture, his
long body and yet longer tail, the end of which he moved
with a light, cat-like motion. One moment more — one
spring and it would be all over with Nell.

At this sight the boy, hardened and inured to danger,
in the twinkling of an eye understood that if he did not

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 375

regain self-command, if he did not muster courage, if he
shot badly and only wounded the assailant, even though
heavily, the little maid must perish. But he could master
himself to that degree that under the influence of these
thoughts his hands and limbs suddenly became calm like
steel springs. With one glance of the eye he detected a
dark spot in the neighborhood of the beast’s ear, — with
one light motion he directed the barrel of the rifle at it
and fired.

The report of the shot, Nell’s scream, and a short, shrill
bleat resounded at the same moment. Stas jumped to-
wards Nell, and covering her with his own body, he aimed
again at the assailant.

But the second shot was entirely unnecessary, for the
dreadful cat lay like a rag, flattened out, with nose close to
the ground and claws wedged in the grass — almost
without a quiver. The bursting bullet had torn out the
back of its head and the nape of its neck. Above its eyes,
gory, torn, white convolutions of its brain oozed out.

And the little hunter and Nell stood for some time,
gazing now at the slain beast, then at each other, not
being able to utter a word. But after that something
strange happened. Now this same Stas, who a moment
before would have astonished the most experienced
hunter in the whole world by his calmness and coolness,
suddenly became pale; his limbs began to tremble, tears
flowed from his eyes, and afterwards he seized his head
with the palms of his hands and began to repeat:

“Oh, Nell! Nell! If I had not returned!”

And he was swayed by such consternation, such be-
lated despair, that every fiber within him quivered as
if he had a fever. After an unheard-of exertion of his
will and all the powers of his soul and body a moment
of weakness and relaxation had come. Before his eyes

376 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

was the picture of the dreadful beast, resting with blood-
stained muzzle in some dark cave and tearing Nell’s body
to pieces. And of course, this could have happened and
would have happened if he had not returned. One minute,
one second more and it would have been too late. This
thought he plainly could not banish.

Finally it ended in this, that Nell, recovering from her
fear and alarm, had to comfort him. The little upright
soul threw both her little arms around his neck and,
weeping also, began to call to him loudly, as if she wanted
to arouse him from slumber.

“Stas! Stas! Nothing is the matter with me. See,
nothing is the matter with me. Stas! Stas!”

But he came to himself and grew calm only after a
long time. Immediately after that Kali, who heard the
shot not far from the camp and knew that the “Bwana
kubwa” never fired in vain, came leading a horse to carry
away the game. The young negro, glancing at the slain
beast, suddenly retreated, and his face at once became
ashen.

“Wobo!” he shouted.

The children now approached the carcass, already
growing rigid. Up to that time Stas did not have an
accurate idea as to what kind of beast of prey had fallen
from his shot. At the first glance of the eye it seemed to
the boy that it was an exceptionally large serval; never-
theless, after closer examination he saw that it was not,
for the slain beast exceeded the dimensions of even a
leopard. His tawny skin was strewn with chestnut-hued
spots, but his head was narrower than that of a leopard,
which made him resemble somewhat a wolf; his legs were
higher, paws wider, and his eyes were enormous. One of
them was driven to the surface by a bullet, the other still
stared at the children, fathomless, motionless, and awful.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 377

Stas came to the conclusion that this was a species of
panther unknown to zodlogy, just as Lake Bassa-Narok
was unknown to geography.

Kali gazed continually with great terror at the beast
stretched upon the ground, repeating in a low voice, as
if he feared to awaken it:

“Wobo! The great master killed a wobo!”

But Stas turned to the little maid, placed his hand on
her head, as though he desired definitely to assure himself
that the wobo had not carried her away, and then said:

“You see, Nell. You see that even if you are full-
grown, you cannot walk alone through the jungle.”

“True, Stas,’ answered Nell with a penitent mien,
“but I can go with you or the King.”’

“Tell me how it was? Did you hear him draw near?”’

“No— Only a golden fly flew out of those flowers.
So I turned around after it and saw how he crept out of
the ravine.”’

“And what then?”

“He stood still and began to look at me.”

“Did he look long?”

“Long, Stas. Only when I dropped the flowers and
guarded myself from him with my hands did he creep
towards me.”’

It occurred to Stas that if Nell were a negress she would
have been pounced upon at once, and that in part she
owed her preservation to the astonishment of the beast,
which seeing before it for the first time a being unknown
to it, for a while was uncertain what to do.

A chill passed through the boy’s bones.

“Thank God! Thank God that I returned! ”

After which he asked further:

“What were you thinking of at that moment?”

“T wanted to call you, and —I could not — but —”’

378 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“But what?”

“But I thought that you would protect me —I my-
self do not know —”’

Saying this she again threw her little arms around
his neck, and he began to stroke her tufts of hair.

“You are not afraid, now?”

cc Nps:

“My little Mzimu! My Mzimu! You see what
Africa is.”

“Yes, but you will kill every ugly beast?”

wills

Both again began to examine closely the rapacious
beast. Stas, desiring to preserve its skin as a trophy
ordered Kali to strip it off, but the latter from fear that
another wobo might creep out of the ravine begged him
not to leave him alone, and to the question whether he
feared a wobo more than a lion, said:

“A lion roars at night and does not leap over stockades,
but a wobo in the white day can leap over a stockade
and kill a great many negroes in the middle of the village,
and after that he seizes one of them and eats him. Against
a wobo a spear is no protection, nor a bow, only charms,
for a wobo cannot be killed.”

’ “Nonsense,” said Stas, “look at this one; is he not well
slain?”

“The white master kills wobo; the black man cannot
kill him,” Kali replied.

It ended in this, that the gigantic cat was tied by a
rope to the horse and the horse dragged him to the camp.
Stas, however, did not succeed in preserving his hide, for
the King, who evidently surmised that the wobo wanted
to carry off his little lady, fell into such a frenzy of rage
that even Stas’ orders were unable to restrain him. Seiz-
ing the slain beast with his trunk he tossed it twice into

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 379

the air; after which he began to strike it against a tree
and in the end trampled upon it with his legs and changed
it into a shapeless, jelly-like mass. Stas succeeded in
saving the jaws, which with the remnants of the head he
placed on an ant-column on the road, and the ants
cleaned the bones in the course of an hour so thoroughly
that not an atom of flesh or blood remained.

XIX

Four days later Stas stopped for a longer rest on a hill
somewhat similar to Mount Linde, but smaller and nar-
rower. That same night Saba after a hard battle killed
a big male baboon, whom he attacked at a time when
the baboon was playing with the remnants of a kite, the
second in order of those which they had sent before start-
ing for the ocean. Stas and Nell, taking advantage of
the stay, determined to glue new ones continually, but
to fly them only when the monsoon blew from the west
to the east. Stas placed great reliance upon this, that
even if but one of them should fall into European or
Arabian hands it would undoubtedly attract extraordinary
attention and would cause an expedition to be despatched
expressly for their rescue. For greater certainty, besides
English and French inscriptions he added Arabian, which
was not difficult for him, as he knew the Arabian language
perfectly.

Soon after starting from the resting-place, Kali an-
nounced that in the mountain chain, which he saw in the
east, he recognized some of the peaks which surrounded
Bassa-Narok; nevertheless, he was not always certain,
as the mountains assumed different shapes, according to
the place from which they were viewed. After crossing
a small valley overgrown with cusso bushes and looking
like a lake of roses, they chanced upon a hut of lone
hunters. There were two negroes in it and one of them

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 381

was sick, having been bitten by a thread-like worm.! But
both were so savage and stupid and in addition so terrified
by the arrival of the unexpected guests, so certain that
they would be murdered, that at first it was impossible
to ascertain anything from them. But a few slices of
smoked meat unloosened the tongue of the one who was
not only sick, but famished, as his companion doled out
food to him very stingily. From him, therefore, they
learned that about a day’s journey away there lay strag-
gling villages, governed by petty kings, who were inde-
pendent of one another; and afterwards, beyond a steep
mountain, the domain of Fumba began, extending on
the west and south of the great water. When Stas heard
this, a great load fell off his heart and new courage en-
tered his soul. At any rate, they now were almost on the
threshold of the land of the Wahimas.

It was difficult to foresee how their further journey
would progress; nevertheless, the boy in any event could
expect that it would not be harder or even longer than
that terrible journey from the banks of the Nile which
they had undergone, thanks to his exceptional resourceful-
ness, and during which he had saved Nell from destruction.
He did not doubt that, thanks to Kali, the Wahimas
would receive them with the greatest hospitality and
would give every assistance to them. After all, he already
well understood the negroes, knew how to act towards
them, and was almost certain that, even without Kali, he
would have been able somehow to take care of himself
among them.

“Do you know,” he said to Nell, “that we have passed
more than one-half of the way from Fashoda, and that
during the journey which is still before us we may meet

1 Filandria medineusis, a worm as thin as thread, and a yard
long. Its bite sometimes causes gangrene.

382 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

very savage negroes, but now will not encounter any
dervishes.”

“T prefer negroes,’ the little maid replied.

“Yes, while you pass as a goddess. I was kidnapped
from Fayfim with a little lady whose name was Nell, and
now am conducting some kind of Mzimu. I shall tell my
father and Mr. Rawlinson that they never should call
you anything else.”

Her eyes began to sparkle and smile:

“Perhaps we may see our papas in Mombasa.”

“Perhaps. If it were not for that war on the shores
of Bassa-Narok, we would be there sooner. Too bad
that Fumba should be engaged in one at this time!”

Saying this, he nodded at Kali.

“Kali, did the sick negro hear of the war?”’

“He heard. It is a big war, very big — Fumba with
Samburus.”

“Well, what will happen? How shall we get through
the Samburu country?”

“The Samburus will run away before the great master,
before the King and before Kali.”

“ And before you?”

“ And before Kali, because Kali has a rifle which thunders
and kills.”

Stas began to meditate upon the part which would
devolve upon him in the conflict between the Wahima and
Samburu tribes and determined to conduct his affairs in
such a manner as not to retard his journey. He under-
stood that their arrival would be an entirely unexpected
event which would at once assure Fumba of a superiority.
Accordingly it was necessary only to make the most of a
victory.

In the villages, of which the sick hunter spoke, they
derived new information about the war. The reports

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 383

were more and more accurate, but unfavorable for Fumba.
The little travelers learned that he was conducting a
defensive campaign, and that the Samburus under the
command of their king, named Mamba, occupied a con-
siderable expanse of the Wahima country and had cap-
tured a multitude of cows. The villagers said that the
war was raging principally on the southern border of the
great water where on a wide and high rock King Fumba’s
great “boma’’! was situated.

This intelligence greatly grieved Kali, who begged
Stas to cross the mountain separating them from the
seat of the war as quickly as possible, assuring him, at
the same time, that he would be able to find the road
on which he could lead not only the horses but the King.
He was already in a region which he knew well and now
distinguished with great certainty peaks which were
familiar to him from childhood.

Nevertheless, the passage was not easy, and if it were
not for the aid of the inhabitants of the last village, won
by gifts, it would have been necessary to seek another
road for the King. These negroes knew better than Kali
the passes leading from that side of the mountain, and
after two days’ arduous travel, during which great cold
incommoded them during the nights, they successfully
led the caravan to a depression in a crest of a mountain
and from the mountain to a valley lying in the Wahima
country. -

Stas halted in the morning for a rest in this desolate val-
ley, surrounded by underwood, while Kali, who begged
to be allowed to scout on horseback in the direction of
his father’s “boma,’”’ which was about a day’s distance,
started that very night. Stas and Nell waited for him

1 The same as a zareba in the Sudan. A great boma may also
be a sort of fortress or fortified camp.

384 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

the whole day with the greatest uneasiness and feared
that he had perished or fallen into the hands of the
enemy, and when finally he appeared on a lean and pant-
ing horse, he himself was equally fatigued and so dejected
that the sight of him excited pity.

He fell at once at Stas’ feet and began to implore for
help.

“Oh, great master,” he said, “the Samburus have
defeated Fumba’s warriors; they killed a multitude of
them and dispersed those they did not kill. They besiege
Fumba in a boma on Boko Mountain. Fumba and his
warriors have nothing to eat in the boma and will perish
if the great master does not kill Mamba and all the Sam-
burus with Mamba.”

Begging thus, he embraced Stas’ knees, while the latter
knitted his brow and meditated deeply as to what was to
be done, for in everything he was particularly concerned
about Nell.

“Where,” he finally asked, “are Fumba’s warriors
whom the Samburus dispersed?”

“Kali found them and they will be here at once.”

“ How many are there?”’

The young negro moved the fingers of both hands and
the toes of both his feet about a score of times, but it
was evident that he could not indicate the exact number
for the simple reason that he could not count above ten
and every greater amount appeared to him as “wengi,”
that is, a multitude.

“Well, if they come here, place yourself at their head
and go to your father’s relief.”

“They fear the Samburus and will not go with Kali,
but with the great master they will go and kill ‘wengi,
wengi,’ of Samburu.”

Stas pondered again.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 385

“No,” he finally said, “I can neither take the ‘ bibi’ to a
battle nor leave her alone, and I will not do it for any-
thing in the world.”

At this Kali rose and folding his hands began to repeat
incessantly:

“Luela! Luela! Luela!”’

“What is ‘ Luela’?” Stas asked.

“A great boma for Wahima and Samburu women,”
the young negro replied.

And he began to relate extraordinary things. Now
Fumba and Mamba had been engaged in continual war-
fare with each other fora great many years. They laid
waste to the plantations of each other and carried away
cattle. But there was a locality on the southern shore of
the lake, called Luela, at which even during the fiercest
war the women of both nations assembled in the market-
place with perfect safety. It was a sacred place. The
war raged only between men; no defeats or victories
affected the fate of the women, who in Luela, behind a
clay enclosure surrounding a spacious market-place, found
an absolutely safe asylum. Many of them sought shelter
there during the time of hostilities, with their children and
goods. Others came from even distant villages with smoked
meat, beans, millet, manioc, and various other supplies.
The warriors were not allowed to fight a battle within a
distance of Luela which ‘could be reached by the crowing of
a rooster. They were likewise not permitted to cross the
clay rampart with which the market-place was surrounded.
They could only stand before the rampart and then the
women would give them supplies of food attached to long
bamboo poles. This was a very ancient custom and it
never happened that either side violated it. The victors
also were always concerned that the way of the defeated
to Luela should be cut off and they did not permit them

386 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

to approach the sacred place within a distance which
could be reached by a rooster’s crow.

“Oh, great master!” Kali begged, again embracing
Stas’ knees, “great master, lead ‘the bibi’ to Luela, and
you yourself take the King, take Kali, take the rifle, take
fiery snakes and rout the wicked Samburus.”

Stas believed the young negro’s narrative, for he had
heard that in many localities in Africa war does not include
women. He remembered how at one time in Port Said a
certain young German missionary related that in the
vicinity of the gigantic mountain, Kilima-Njaro, the
immensely warlike Massai tribe sacredly observed this
custom, by virtue of which the women of the contending
parties walked with perfect freedom in certain market-
places and were never subject to attack. The existence of
this custom on the shores of Bassa-Narok greatly de-
lighted Stas, for he could be certain that no danger threat-
ened Nell on account of the war. He determined also to
start with the little maid without delay for Luela, all the
more because before the termination of the war they could
not think of a further journey for which not only the aid
of the Wahimas but that of the Samburus was necessary.

Accustomed to quick decisions, he already knew how he
should act. To free Fumba, to rout the Samburus but
not to permit a too bloody revenge, and afterwards to
command peace and reconcile the belligerents, appeared
to him an imperative matter not only for himself but also
most beneficial for the negroes. “Thus it should be and
thus it shall be!’’ he said to himself in his soul, and in the
meantime, desiring to comfort the young negro for whom
he felt sorry, he announced that he did not refuse aid.

“How far is Luela from here?” he asked.

“A half day’s journey.”

“Listen, then! we will convey the ‘bibi’ there at once,

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 387

after which I shall ride on the King and drive away the
Samburus from your father’s boma. You shall ride with
me and shall fight with them.”

“Kali will kill them with the rifle!”

And passing at once from despair to joy, he began to
leap, laugh, and thank Stas with as much ardor as though
the victory was already achieved. But further outbursts
of gratitude and mirth were interrupted by the arrival of
the warriors, whom he had gathered together during his
scouting expedition and whom he commanded to appear
before the white master. They numbered about three
hundred; they were armed with shields of hippopotamus
leather, with javelins and knives. Their heads were
dressed with feathers, baboon manes, and ferns. At the
sight of an elephant in the service of a man, at the sight
of the white faces, Saba, and the horses, they were seized
by the same fear and the same amazement which had pos-
sessed the negroes in those villages through which the
children previously passed. But Kali warned them in
advance that they would behold the “Good Mzimu” and
the mighty master “who kills lions, who killed a wobo,
whom the elephant fears, who crushes rocks, lets loose
fiery snakes,” etc. So, instead of running away, they stood
in a long row in silence, full of admiration, with the whites
of their eyes glistening, uncertain whether they should
kneel or fall on their faces. But at the same time they were
full of faith that if these extraordinary beings would help
them then the victories of the Samburus would soon end.
Stas rode along the file on the elephant, just like a com-
mander who is reviewing his army, after which he ordered
Kali to repeat his promise that he would liberate Fumba,
and issued an order that they should start for Luela.

Kali rode with a few warriors in advance to announce
to the women of both tribes that they would have the

388 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

inexpressible and unheard-of pleasure of seeing the “Good
Mzimu,” who would arrive on an elephant. The matter
was so extraordinary that even those women who, being
members of the Wahima tribe, recognized Kali as the
lost heir to the throne, thought that he was jesting with
them and were surprised that he wanted to jest at a
time that was so heavy for the whole tribe and Fumba.
When, however, after the lapse of a few hours they saw
a gigantic elephant approaching the ramparts and on it
a white palanquin, they fell into a frenzy of joy and
received the ‘‘Good Mzimu,” with such shouts and such
yells that Stas at first mistook their voices for an out-
burst of hatred, and the more so as the unheard-of ugli-
ness of the negresses made them look like witches.

But these were manifestations of extraordinary honor.
When Nell’s tent was set in a corner of the market-place
under the shade of two thick trees, the Wahima and
Samburu women decorated it with garlands and wreaths
of flowers, after which they brought supplies of food that
would have sufficed a month, not only for the divinity
herself but for her retinue. The enraptured women even
prostrated themselves before Mea, who, attired in rosy
percale and a few strings of blue beads, as a humble ser-
vant of the Mzimu, appeared to them as a being far
superior to the common negresses.

Nasibu, out of regard for his childish age, was admitted
behind the rampart and at once took advantage of the
gifts brought for Nell so conscientiously that after an
hour his little abdomen resembled an African war drum.

XX

Sras, after a brief rest under the ramparts of Luela,
started with Kali before sunset at the head of three hun-
dred warriors for Fumba’s boma, for he wanted to attack
the Samburus during the night, relying upon the fact that
in the darkness the fiery snakes would create a greater
sensation. The march from Luela to Mount Boko, on
which Fumba was defending himself, counting the rests,
required nine hours, so that they appeared before the
fortress at about three o’clock in the morning. Stas
halted the warriors and, having ordered them to preserve
the deepest silence, began to survey the situation. The
summit of the mountain on which the defenders had
sought refuge was dark; on the other hand the Sam-
burus burnt a multitude of camp-fires. Their glare
illuminated the steep walls of the rock and the gigantic
trees growing at its foot. From a distance came the
hollow sounds of drums and the shouts and songs of war-
riors who evidently were not sparing in their indulgence
of pombe,! desiring already to celebrate a near and de-
cisive victory. Stas advanced at the head of his division
still farther, so that finally not more than a hundred paces
separated him from the last camp-fires. There were no
signs of camp sentinels and the moonless night did not
permit the savages to catch sight of the King who, be-

1 A beer of millet with which the negroes intoxicate them-
selves.

390 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

sides, was screened by the underwood. Stas, sitting on
his neck, quietly issued the final orders, after which he
gave Kali the signal to light one of the sky-rockets. A
red ribbon flew up, hissing, high in the dark sky, after
which, with an explosive sound, it scattered into a bouquet
of red, blue, and golden stars. All voices became hushed
and a moment of gloomy silence ensued. A few seconds
later two more fiery snakes flew out, as though with an
infernal hiss, but this time they were aimed horizontally
directly at the Samburu camp; simultaneously resounded
the King’s roar and the loud cries of the three hundred
Wahimas who, armed with assagais,! maces, and knives,
rushed ahead with irrepressible speed. A battle began,
which was the more terrible because it took place in the
darkness, as all the camp-fires in the confusion were at
once trampled out. But, at the very beginning, blind
terror at the sight of the fiery snakes seized the Sam-
burus. What was happening passed entirely beyond
their understanding. They only knew that they were
attacked by some terrible beings and thdt horrible and
unavoidable destruction threatened them. A _ greater
part of them ran away before they could be reached by
the spears and maces of the Wahimas. A hundred and
a few tens of warriors, whom Mamba succeeded in rallying
about him, offered stubborn resistance; when, however,
in the flashes of the shots, they saw a gigantic beast and
on him a person dressed in white, and when their ears
were dinned with the reports of the weapon which Kali
from time to time discharged, their hearts sank. Fumba
on the mountain, seeing the first sky-rocket, which burst
in the heights, fell on the ground from fright and lay as
though dead for a few minutes. But, regaining con-
sciousness, he imagined from the desperate yells of the
1 Negro spears.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 391

warriors one thing, namely, that some kind of spirits were
exterminating the Samburus below. Then the thought
flashed through his mind that if he did not come to the
aid of those spirits, he might incur their wrath, and as
the extermination of the Samburus was his salvation, he
mustered all his warriors about him and sallied forth from
a secret side exit of the boma and cut off the road of a
greater part of the fugitives. The battle now changed
into a massacre. The Samburu drums ceased to beat.
In the darkness, which was rent only by the red flashes
cast by Kali’s rifle, resounded the howls of the men being
killed, the hollow blows of the maces against shields and
the groans of the wounded. Nobody begged for mercy,
for mercy is unknown to negroes. Kali, from a fear that
in the darkness and confusion he might wound his own
people, finally ceased to fire, and seizing Gebhr’s sword
rushed with it into the midst of the enemies. The Sam-
burus could now flee from the mountains towards their
frontiers only by way of one wide pass, but as Fumba
blocked this pass with his warriors, out of the whole host
only those were safe who, throwing themselves upon the
ground, permitted themselves to be taken alive, though
they knew that a cruel slavery awaited them, or even
immediate death at the hands of the victors. Mamba
defended himself heroically until a blow of a mace crushed
his skull. His son, young Faru, fell into Fumba’s hand,
who ordered him bound, as a future sacrifice of gratitude
to the spirits which had come to his assistance.

Stas did not drive the terrible King into the battle;
he permitted him only to trumpet to increase the terror
of the enemies. He himself did not fire a single shot from
his rifle at the Samburus, for in the first place he had
promised little Nell on leaving Luela that he would not
kill any one, and again he actually had no desire to kill

392 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

people who had done no harm to him or Nell. It was
enough that he assured the Wahimas a victory and freed
Fumba, who was besieged in a great boma. Soon, also,
when Kali came running with news of a definite victory,
he issued an order for the cessation of the battle, which
raged yet in the underwood and rocky recesses and
which was prolonged by the implacable hatred of old
Fumba.

However, before Kali succeeded in quelling it, it was
daylight. The sun, as is usual under the equator, rolled
quickly from beyond the mountains, and flooded with a
bright light the battle-field on which lay over two hundred
Samburu corpses pierced by spears or crushed by maces.
After a certain time, when the battle finally ceased and
only the joyful yells of the Wahimas disturbed the morn-
ing’s quiet, Kali again appeared, but with a face so de-
jected and sad that it could be perceived even from a
distance that some kind of misfortune had overtaken
him.

In fact, when he stood before Stas, he began to strike
his head with his fists and exclaim sorrowfully:

“Oh, great master! — Fumba kufa! Fumba kufa!”
(is slain).

“Slain?’’ Stas repeated.

Kali related what had happened, and from his words
it appeared that the cause of the occurrence was only
the inveterate hatred of Fumba, for after the battle
had ceased, he still wanted to give the last blow to
two Samburus, and from one of them he received the
stroke of a spear.

The news spread among all the Wahimas in the twin-
kling of an eye and around Kali a mob gathered. A few
moments later six warriors bore on spears the old king,
who was not killed but fatally wounded. Before his

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 393

death he desired to see the mighty master, the real con-
queror of the Samburus, sitting on an elephant.

Accordingly uncommon admiration struggled in his
eyes with the dusk with which death was dimming them,
and his pale lips, stretched by “pelele,” whispered lowly:

“Yancig! Yancig!”

But immediately after that his head reclined backward,
his mouth opened wide — and he died.

Kali, who loved him, with tears threw himself upon
his breast. Among the warriors some began to strike
their heads, others to proclaim Kali king and to “ yancig”’
in his honor. Some fell before the young ruler on their
faces. No one raised a voice in opposition, as the right
to rule belonged to Kali not only by law, as the oldest
son of Fumba, but also as a conqueror.

In the meantime, in the huts of the fetish-men in the
boma on the mountain-top, resounded the savage din
of the wicked Mzimu, the same as Stas had heard in the
first negro village, but this time it was not directed against
him but was demanding the death of the prisoners for
killing Fumba. The drums began torumble. The warriors
formed in a long host of three men in a row and commenced
a war dance around Stas, Kali, and Fumba’s corpse.

“Oa, Oa! Yach, yach!” all voices repeated; all heads
nodded right and left in unison, the whites of their eyes
glistened, and the sharp points of the spears twinkled
in the morning sun.

Kali rose and turning to Stas, said:

“Great master, bring the ‘bibi’ to the boma and let her
dwell in Fumba’s hut. Kali is king of the Wahimas and
the great master is Kali’s king.”

Stas nodded his head in sign of assent but remained
a few hours, for he and the King were entitled to a rest.

He did not leave until towards the evening. During

394 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

his absence the bodies of the slain Samburus were removed
and thrown into a neighboring deep abyss, over which at
once a swarm of vultures flocked; the fetish-men made
preparations for Fumba’s funeral and Kali assumed
authority as the only master of the life and death of all
his subjects.

“Do you know what Kali is?” Stas asked the little
maid on the return journey from Luela.

Nell gazed at him with surprise.

“He is your boy.”

“Aha! A boy! Kali is now king of all the Wahimas.”

This news delighted Nell immensely. This sudden
change, thanks to which the former slave of the cruel
Gebhr, and later the humble servant of Stas, became a
king, seemed to her something extraordinary and at the
same time exceedingly amusing.

Nevertheless, Linde’s remark that negroes were like
children who were incapable of remembering what tran-
spired the day before, did not appear just in its application
to Kali, for as soon as Stas and Nell stopped at the foot
of Mount Boko the young monarch hurried to meet them;
he greeted them with the usual marks of humility and
joy and repeated the words which he had previously
uttered:

“Kali is the king of the Wahimas, and the great master
is Kali’s king.”

And he surrounded both with an adoration almost
divine and prostrated himself, particularly before Nell,
in the presence of all the people, for he knew from experi-
ence, acquired during the journey, that the great master
cared more for the little “bibi’”’ than for himself.

Leading them solemnly to the capital boma on the sum-
mit he surrendered to them Fumba’s hut, which resem-
bled a great shed divided into several rooms. He ordered

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 395

the Wahima women, who came with them from Luela,
and who could not look enough at the “Good Mzimu,”’ to
place a utensil with honey and sour milk in the first room,
and when he learned that the “ bibi,” tired by the journey,
had fallen asleep, he commanded all the inhabitants to
observe the deepest silence under the penalty of cutting
out their tongues. But he decided to honor them still
more solemnly, and with this in view, when Stas, after a
brief rest, came out of the shed, he approached him and,
prostrating himself, said:

“To-morrow Kali shall order Fumba to be buried
and shall cause as many slaves to be cut down for Fumba
and for Kali as both have fingers on their hands, but for
the ‘bibi’ and for the great master, Kali shall order Faru,
the son of Mamba, to be cut to pieces and ‘ wengi, wengi’
of other Samburus who were captured by the Wahimas.”’

And Stas knitted his brows and began to gaze with
his steely eyes into Kali’s eyes; after which he answered:

“T forbid you to do that.”’

“Master,” the young negro said in an uncertain voice,
“the Wahimas always cut down slaves. The old king
dies — cut them down; the young succeeds — cut them
down. If Kali did not command them to be cut down,
the Wahimas would think that Kali is not king.”

Stas looked more and more sternly:

“What of it?” he asked. “Did you not learn anything
on Mount Linde, and are you not a Christian?”

“T am, oh, great master!”’

“Listen, then! The Wahimas have black brains, but
your brains ought to be white. You, as soon as you became
their king, should enlighten them and teach them what
you learned from me and from the ‘bibi.’ They are like
jackals and like hyenas—make men of them. Tell them it
is not allowable to cut down captives, for the Great Spirit

396 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

to whom I and the ‘bibi’ pray avenges the blood of the
defenseless. The white people do not murder slaves, and
you want to be worse to them than Gebhr was to you
— you, a Christian! Shame on you, Kali. Change the
ancient and abominable customs of the Wahimas for good
ones and God will bless you for this and the ‘ bibi’ will not
say that Kali is a savage, stupid, bad negro.”

A horrible din in the huts of the fetish-men deafened
his words. Stas waved his hand and continued:

“T hear! That is your wicked Mzimu, which wants
the blood and heads of the captives. But you, of course,
know what that means and it will not frighten you.
Well, I say this to you: take a bamboo stick, go to each
hut and thrash the hides of the fetish-men until they
begin to roar louder than their drums. Cast out the
drums into the middle of the boma, in order that all the
Wahimas may see and understand how these knaves
have deceived them. Tell your foolish Wahimas, at
the same time, that which you yourself announced to
M’Rua’s people, that wherever the ‘Good Mzimu’ sojourns
no human blood can be shed.”’

Stas’ words evidently persuaded the young king, as he
glanced at him boldly and said:

“Kali will beat, oh, beat the fetish-men; throw out
the drums and tell the Wahimas that there where the
‘Good Mzimu’ is it is not allowable to kill any one. But
what shall Kali do with Faru and with the Samburus
who killed Fumba?”’

Stas, who already had formed his plans for everything
and who only waited for this question, answered at once:

“Your father perished and his father perished, there-
fore it is a head for a head. You shall conclude a blood
alliance with Faru, after which the Wahimas and Sam-
burus shall dwell in harmony; they shall peacefully culti-

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 397

vate manioc, and hunt. You shall tell Faru of the Great
Spirit, who is the Father of all white and black people,
and Faru shall love you like a brother.”

“Kali now has a white brain,” answered the young
negro.

And with this the conversation ended. A while later
again resounded wild roars; this time they were not the
roars of the wicked Mzimu but only of both fetish-men,
whom Kali cudgelled with all his might and main. The
warriors, who below continually surrounded the King
in a compact circle, came running up as fast as their legs
could carry them to see what was happening, and soon
became convinced with their own eyes and from the con-
fessions of the fetish-men that the bad Mzimu before
which heretofore they trembled was only a hollowed-out
trunk with monkey skin stretched over it.

And young Faru, when he was informed that in honor
of the “Good Mzimu” and the great master his head
would not be dashed to pieces, but that Kali was to eat a
piece of him and he a piece of Kali, could hardly believe
his ears, and on learning to whom he was indebted for
his life, lay on his face on the ground before the entrance
to Fumba’s hut, and remained there until Nell came out
and ordered him torise. Then he embraced with his black
hands her little foot and placed it on his head in sign that
through his entire life he desired to remain her slave.

The Wahimas were greatly astonished at the commands
of the young king, but the presence of the unknown guests
whom they regarded as the most powerful sorcerers in
the world had the effect of disarming all opposition.
The older people, however, were displeased with the new
customs, and both fetish-men, understanding that their
prosperous days were forever over, swore in their souls a
terrible revenge against the king and the new arrivals.

398 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

In the meantime they buried Fumba with great solem-
nity at the foot of the rock below the boma. Kali placed
above his grave a cross made of bamboo, while the negroes
left a few utensils with pombe and smoked meat “in order
that he should not annoy and haunt them during the
night-time.”

Mamba’s body, after the conclusion of the blood
brotherhood between Kali and Faru, was surrendered
to the Samburus.

XXI

“NELL, can you enumerate our journeys from Fayfim?”
Stas asked.

cal,

Saying this the little maid raised her eyebrows and
began to count on her little fingers.

“At once. From Fayiim to Khartim — that is one;
from Khartim to Fashoda — that is the second; from
Fashoda to that ravine in which we found the King —
that is the third; and from Mount Linde to the lake — that
is the fourth.”

“Yes. There probably is not another fly in the world
which has flown over such a piece of Africa.”

“That fly would look queer without you.”

Stas began to laugh.

“A fly on an elephant! A fly on an elephant

“But not a tsetse! Honestly, Stas — not a tsetse.”

“No,” he answered, “a very agreeable fly.”

Nell, pleased with the praise, propped her little nose on
his arm; after which she asked:

“When shall we start on our fifth journey?”

“As soon as you have rested thoroughly, and I can
instruct those men whom Kali has promised to me how
to shoot a little.”

“And shall we ride long?”’

“Long, Nell—long! Who knows whether it will not
be the longest journey?”

“ And you, as usual, will be equal to it.”

1»?

400 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“T must be.”

Somehow Stas had managed to shift for himself as best
he could, but this fifth journey required great prepara-
tions. They were to venture into unknown regions in
which they were threatened with manifold dangers, so the
boy desired to be protected against them better than he
previously had been. With this in view he gave instruc-
tions in shooting from Remington rifles to forty young
Wahimas who were to form the principal armed force and
in a measure Nell’s body-guard. More rifle-men he could
not have, as the King carried only twenty-five rifles and
the horses bore only fifteen. The rest of the army was
to consist of one hundred Wahimas and a hundred Sam-
burus, armed with spears and bows, whom Faru promised
to furnish, and whose presence removed many difficulties
of travel through the wide and wild country inhabited by
the Samburu tribe. Stas, not without a certain pride,
thought that having escaped during his journey from
Fashoda with only Nell and the two negroes, without
any means, he might come to the ocean coast at the head
of two hundred armed men with an elephant and horses.
He pictured to himself what would be said by the Eng-
lish people who prized resourcefulness highly, but above
all he thought of what his father and Mr. Rawlinson
would say. The thought of this sweetened all his toils.

Nevertheless, he was not at all at ease as to his own and
Nell’s fate, for he surely would pass through the pos-
sessions of the Wahimas and the Samburus without any
difficulties, but after that, what? Upon what tribes
would he yet chance, into what regions would he enter, and
how much travel still remained? Linde’s directions were
too vague. Stas was greatly worried because he actually
did not know where he was, as that part of Africa ap-
peared on the maps from which he studied geography

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 401

entirely like a blank page. He also had no idea what this
Lake Bassa-Narok was and how great it was. He was
on its southern border, at which the width of the overflow
might amount to ten miles. But neither the Wahimas
nor the Samburus could tell him how far the lake ex-
tended to the north. Kali, who knew the Kiswahili
language passably well, answered all questions with,
“Bali! bali!”? which meant “far! far!” but this was all
that Stas could elicit from him.

As the mountains on the north, shutting off the view,
appeared quite near, he assumed that it was a small,
brackish lake, like many others in Africa. A few years later
it appeared how great an error he committed.! For the
time being, however, he was not concerned so much about
ascertaining the exact dimensions of Bassa-Narok as
whether some river did not flow out of it, which after-
wards coursed to the ocean. The Samburus — subjects
of Faru — claimed that east of their country lay a waterless
desert which no one had yet traversed. Stas, who knew
negroes from the narratives of travelers, from Linde’s
adventures, and partly from his own experience, was
aware that when the dangers and the hardships began,
many of his men would desert to return home, and per-
haps not one would remain. In such case he would find
himself in the wilds and desert with only Nell, Mea, and
little Nasibu. Above all he understood that a lack of
water would disperse the caravan at once, and for that
reason he inquired so eagerly about the river. Going
along its course, they really might avoid those horrors to
which travelers in waterless regions are exposed.

But the Samburus could not tell him anything definite;
he himself could not make any longer explorations of the

1 It was the great lake which was discovered in 1888 by the
celebrated traveler Teleki and which he named Lake Rudolf.

402 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

eastern shore of the lake, for other employment kept him
at Boko. He reckoned that in all probability none of
the kites that he flew from Mount Linde and from the
negro villages had crossed the chain of mountains sur-
rounding Bassa-Narok. For this reason it was necessary
to make and fly new ones, for these the wind could now
carry across the flat desert far away — perhaps as far
as the ocean. Now this work he had to supervise per-
sonally. For though Nell could glue them perfectly,
and Kali had learned how to fly them, neither of them
were able to inscribe on them all that it was necessary to
write. Stas regarded this as a matter of great importance
which it was not allowable to neglect.

So this labor occupied so much of his time that the
caravan was not ready for the journey until three weeks
had elapsed. But on the eve of the day on which they
were to start at daybreak the young King of the Wahimas
appeared before Stas and, bowing profoundly, said:

“Kali goes with the master and the ‘ bibi’ as far as the
water on which great pirogues of the white people float.”

Stas was touched by this proof of attachment; never-
theless, he thought that he had no right to take the boy
with him upon such an immense journey, a return from
which might be uncertain.

“Why do you want to go with us?” he asked.

“Kali loves the great master and the ‘ bibi.’”

Stas placed the palm of his hand on Kali’s woolly head.

“T know, Kali, that you are an honest and good boy.
But what will become of your kingdom and who will
govern the Wahimas in your place?”

“M’Tana, brother of Kali’s mother.”

Stas knew that strife for rulership raged among the
negroes and power lured them the same as the white
people; so he pondered for a while and said:

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 403

“No, Kali. I cannot take you with me. You must
remain with the Wahimas in order to make good people
of them.”

“Kali will return to them.”

“M’Tana has many sons— Well, what will happen if
he himself should desire to become king and leave the
kingdom to his sons, and should induce the Wahimas to
expel you?”

“M’Tana is good. He would not do that.”

“But if he should do it?”

“Then Kali will again go to the great water — to the
great master and the ‘ bibi.’”

“We shall not be there then.”

“Then Kali will sit beside the water and weep from
grief.”

Speaking thus he crossed his hands above his head;
after a while he whispered:

“ Kali loves the great master and the ‘ bibi’ very much —
very much!”

And two big tears piistenadi: in his eyes.

Stas hesitated how to act. He was sorry for Kali,
nevertheless, he did not assent to his entreaty. He under-
stood — not to speak of the dangers of return — that if
M’Tana or the fetish-men stirred up the negroes, then the
boy was threatened not only with expulsion from the
country but with death.

“Tt is better for you to remain,” he said, “better without
question.”

But while he was saying this, Nell entered. Through
the thin mat which separated the rooms she had heard
perfectly the whole conversation, and now seeing tears in
Kali’s eyes she began to wipe his eyelids with her little
fingers, and afterward turned to Stas:

“Kali is going with us,” she said with great firmness.

404 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“Oho!” answered Stas, somewhat ruffled, “that does
not depend upon you.”

“Kali is going with us,” she repeated.

“No, he will not go.” |

Suddenly she stamped her little foot.

“T want it.”

And she burst into a genuine flood of tears.

Stas stared at her with the greatest amazement, as though
he did not understand what had happened to the little
maid who was always so good and gentle, but seeing that
she stuck both of her little fists in her eyes and, like a
little bird, caught the air with her opened mouth, he
began to exclaim with great haste:

“Kali is going with us! He is going! He is going!
Why are you crying? How unbearable you are! He is
going! My, how pale you are! He is going! Do you
hear?”

And thus it happened. Stas was ashamed until the
evening of his weakness for the “Good Mzimu,” and the
“Good Mzimu” having carried her point, was as quiet,
gentle, and obedient as ever. |

XXIT

THE caravan started at daybreak on the following day.
The young negro was happy, the little female despot
was now gentle and obedient, and Stas was full of
energy and hope. They were accompanied by one hun-
dred Samburus and one hundred Wahimas — forty of
the latter were armed with Remingtons from which they
could shoot passably well. The white commander who
drilled them during three weeks knew, indeed, that in a
given case they would create more noise than harm, but
thought that in meeting savages noise plays no less a
part than bullets, and he was pleased with his guards.
They took with them a great supply of manioc, cakes
baked of big, fat white ants and ground into flour, as
well as a great quantity of smoked meats. Between ten
and twenty women went with the caravan. They carried
various good things for Nell and water-bags made of
antelope skin. Stas, from the King’s back, kept order,
issued commands — perhaps not so much because they
were necessary, but because he was intoxicated by the
role of a commander— and with pride viewed his little
army.

“Tf I wanted to,” he said to himself, “I could remain
the king of all the people of Doko, like Beniowsky in
Madagascar.”

And a thought flitted through his head whether it
would not be well to return here sometime, conquer a great
tract of country, civilize the negroes, found in that locality

406 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

a new Poland, or even start at the head of a drilled black
host for the old. As he felt, however, that there was
something ludicrous in the idea and as he doubted whether
his father would permit him to play the réle of the Mace-
donian Alexander in Africa, he did not confide his plans to
Nell, who certainly would be the only person in the world
ready to applaud them.

And besides, before subjugating that region of Africa,
it was necessary above all things to get out of it, so he
occupied himself with nearer matters. The caravan
stretched out in a long string. Stas, sitting on the King’s
neck, decided to ride at the end in order to have every-
thing and everybody in sight.

Now when the people passed by him, one after another,
he observed, not without surprise, that the two fetish-
men, M’Kunje and M’Pua — the same who had received
a drubbing at Kali’s hands — belonged to the caravan
and that they set out with packs on their heads together
with the others on the road.

So he stopped them and asked:

“Who ordered you to go?”

“The king,” they answered, bowing humbly.

But under the mask of humility their eyes glittered
savagely and their faces reflected such malice that Stas
at once wanted to drive them away, and if he did not
do it, it was only because he did not want to undermine
Kali’s authority.

Nevertheless, he summoned him at once.

“Did you order the fetish-men to go with us?” he asked.

“Kali ordered it, for Kali is wise.”

“Then I shall ask you why your wisdom did not leave
them at home?”

“Because if M’Kunje and M’Pua remain they would
instigate the Wahimas to kill Kali upon his return, but

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 407

if we take them with us Kali will be able to watch
them.”

Stas meditated for a while and said:

“Perhaps you are right; nevertheless, do not lose
sight of them, day or night, for they have a wicked look.”

“Kali will have bamboo sticks,’ the young negro
replied.

The caravan proceeded. Stas at the last moment
ordered the guard, armed with Remingtons, to close the
procession, as they were men chosen by him, and most
reliable. During the drills, which lasted quite long, they
had become attached in a certain degree to this young
commander, and at the same time, as the nearest: to his
august person, they regarded themselves as something
better than the others. At present they were to watch
over the whole caravan and seize those who should take
a fancy to desert. It was to be foreseen that when the
hardships and dangers began deserters would not be
lacking.

But the first day everything proceeded in the best
possible manner. The negroes with the burdens on their
heads, each one armed with a bow and a few smaller
javelins or so-called assagais, extended in a long serpentine
column amidst the jungle. For some time they skirted
along the southern shore of the lake over the level ground,
but as the lake was surrounded on all sides by high peaks
they had to climb mountains when they turned to the
east. The old Samburus, who knew that locality, claimed
that the caravan would have to cross high passes be-
tween the mountains which they called Kullal and Inro,
after which they would enter into the Ebene country,
lying south of Borani. Stas understood that they could
not go directly east for he remembered that Mombasa
was situated a few degrees beyond the equator and there-

408 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

fore considerably south of that unknown lake. Possessing
a few compasses which Linde left, he did not fear that he
would stray from the proper road.

The first night they lodged upon a wooded hill. With
the coming of darkness a few scores of camp-fires blazed,
at which the negroes roasted dried meat and ate a dough
of manioc roots, picking it out of the utensils with their
fingers. After appeasing their hunger and thirst they
were gossiping among themselves as to where the “ Bwana
kubwa” would lead them and what they would receive
from him for it. Some sang, squatting and stirring up
the fire, while all talked so long and so loudly that Stas
finally had to command silence in order that Nell should
sleep.

The night was very cold, but the next day, when the
first rays of the sun illuminated the locality, it became warm
at once. About sunrise the little travelers saw a strange
sight. They were just approaching a little lake over
a mile wide, or rather a great slough formed by the rains
in the mountain valley, when suddenly Stas, sitting
with Nell on the King, and looking about the region
through a field-glass, exclaimed:

“Took, Nell! Elephants are going to the water.”

In fact, at a distance of about five hundred yards could
be seen a small herd composed of five heads, approaching
the little lake slowly one after the other.

“These are some kind of strange elephants,” Stas
said, gazing at them with keen attention; “they are
smaller than the King, their ears are far smaller, and I
do not see any tusks at all.”

In the meantime the elephants entered the water but
did not stop at the shore, as the King usually did, and
did not begin to splash with their trunks, but going
continually ahead they plunged deeper and deeper until

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 409

finally only their backs protruded above the water like
boulders of stone.

“What is this? They are diving!” Stas exclaimed.

The caravan approached considerably towards the
shore and finally was close by it. Stas halted it and began
to stare with extraordinary astonishment now at Nell,
then at the lake.

The elephants could not be seen at all; in the smooth
watery pane even with the naked eye could be distinguished
five spots like round red flowers, jutting above the surface
and rocking with a light motion.

“They are standing on the bottom and those are the
tips of their trunks,”’ Stas said, not believing his own eyes.
Then he shouted to Kali:

“Kali, did you see them?”

“Yes, master, Kali sees. Those are water-elephants,
answered the young negro quietly.

“Water-elephants?”’

“Kali has seen them often.”

“ And do they live in water?”

“During the night they go to the jungle and feed
and during the day they live in the lake the same as a
kiboko (hippopotamus). They do not come out until
after sunset.”

Stas for a long time could not recover from his sur-
prise, and were it not that it was urgent for him to proceed
on his way he would have halted the caravan until
night in order to view better these singular animals. But
it occurred to him that the elephants might emerge from

91

1 Africa contains many uninvestigated secrets. Rumors of
water-elephants reached the ears of travelers but were given no
credence. Recently M. Le Petit, sent to Africa by the Museum
of Natural History, Paris, saw water-elephants on the shores
of Lake Leopold in Congo. An account of this can be found
in the German periodical ‘‘ Kosmos,” No. 6.

410 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

the water on the opposite side, and even if they came out
nearer it would be difficult to observe them closely in
the dusk.

He gave the signal for the departure, but on the road
said to Nell:

“Well! We have seen something which the eyes of
no European have ever seen. And do you know what I
think? — that if we reach the ocean safely nobody will
believe us when I tell them that there are water-elephants
in Africa.”

“But if you caught one and took him along with us to
the ocean?” Nell said, in the conviction that Stas as
usual would be able to accomplish everything.

XXIII

AFTER ten days’ journey the caravan finally crossed the
depressions in the crests of mountains and entered into a
different country. It was an immense plain, broken here
and there by small hills, but was mainly level. The vege-
tation changed entirely. There were no big trees, rising
singly or in clumps over the wavy surface of the grass.
Here and there projected at a considerable distance from
each other acacias yielding gum, with coral-hued trunks,
umbrella-like, but with scant foliage and affording but
little shade. Among the white-ant hillocks shot upwards
here and there euphorbias, with boughs like the arms of a
candle-stick. In the sky vultures soared, and lower there
flew from acacia to acacia birds of the raven species
with black and white plumage. The grass was yellow
and, in spike, looked like ripe rye. But, nevertheless,
that dry jungle obviously supplied food for a great
number of animals, for several times each day the trav-
elers met considerable herds of antelopes, hartbeests, and
particularly zebras. The heat on the open and treeless
plain became unbearable. The sky was cloudless, the days
were excessively hot, and the night did not bring any rest.

The journey became each day more and more burden-
some. In the villages which the caravan encountered,
the extremely savage populace received it with fear, but
principally with reluctance, and if it were not for the
large number of armed guards as well as the sight

412 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

of the white faces, the King, and Saba, great danger
would have threatened the travelers.

With Kali’s assistance Stas was able to ascertain that
farther on there were no villages and that the country was
waterless. This was hard to believe, for the numerous
herds which they encountered must have drunk some-
where. Nevertheless, the account of the desert, in which
there were no rivers nor sloughs, frightened the negroes
and desertions began. The first example was set by
M’Kunje and M’Pua. Fortunately their escape was
detected early, and pursuers on horseback caught them
not far from the camp; when they were brought back
Kali, with the aid of the bamboo sticks, impressed upon
them the impropriety of their conduct. Stas, assembling
all the guards, delivered a speech to them, which the
young negro interpreted into the native language. Taking
advantage of the fact that at the last stopping place lions
roared all night about the camp, Stas endeavored to con-
vince his men that whoever ran away would unavoidably
become their prey, and even if he passed the night on
acacia boughs the still more terrible “wobo” would find
him there. He said afterwards that wherever the ante-
lopes live there must be water, and if in the further course
of their journey they should chance upon a region entirely
destitute of water, they could take enough of it with them
in bags of antelope skin for two or three days’ journey.
The negroes, hearing his words, repeated every little
while, one after another: “Oh, mother, how true that is,
how true!” but the following night five Samburus and
two Wahimas ran away, and after that every night some-
body was missing.

M’Kunje and M’Pua did not, however, try their for-
tune a second time for the simple reason that Kali at
sunset ordered them to be bound.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 413

Nevertheless, the country became drier and drier, and
the sun scorched the jungle unmercifully. Even acacias
could not be seen. Herds of antelopes appeared con-
tinually but in smaller numbers. The donkey and the
horses yet found sufficient food, as under the high, dry
grass was hidden in many places lower grass, greener
and less dry. But the King, though he was not fastidious,
grew lean. When they chanced upon an acacia he broke
it with his head, and nibbled diligently its leaves and
even the pods of the previous year. The caravan indeed
came upon water every day, but frequently it was so bad
that it had to be filtered or else it was unfit even for the
elephant to drink. Afterwards it happened several times
that the men, sent in advance, returned under Kali’s com-
mand, not finding a slough nor a stream hidden in the
earth’s fissures, and Kali with troubled face would an-
nounce: “ Madi apana” (no water).

Stas understood that this last journey would not be
any easier than the previous ones and began to worry
about Nell, as changes were taking place in her. Her
little face, instead of tanning from the sun and wind,
became each day paler and her eyes lost their usual luster.
On the dry plain, free from mosquitoes, she was not
threatened with fever, but it was apparent that the ter-
rible heat was wasting the little maid’s strength. The
boy, with compassion and with fear, now gazed at her
little hands, which became as white as paper, and bitterly
reproached himself because, having lost so much time
in the preparation and in drilling the negroes to shoot,
he had exposed her to a journey in a season of the year
so parching.

Amid these fears day after day passed. The sun drank
up the moisture and the life out of the soil more and more
greedily and unmercifully. The grass shriveled and dried

414 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

up to such a degree that it crumbled under the hoofs of
the antelopes, and herds, rushing by, though not numerous,
raised clouds of dust. Nevertheless, the travelers chanced
once more upon a little river, which they recognized by
a long row of trees growing on its banks. The negroes
ran in a race towards the trees and, reaching the bank, lay
flat on it, dipping their heads and drinking so greedily
that they stopped only when a crocodile seized the hand
of one of their number. Others rushed to their compan-
ion’s rescue and in one moment they pulled out of the
water the loathsome lizard, which, however, did not let
go of the man’s hand though his jaws were opened with
spears and knives. The matter was only terminated by
the King who, placing his foot on him, crushed him as
easily as if he were a mouldy mushroom.

When the men finally quenched their thirst, Stas
ordered the erection in the shallow water of a round
enclosure of high bamboos with only one entrance from
the bank, in order that Nell might bathe with perfect
safety. And at the entrance he stationed the King.
The bath greatly refreshed the little maid and a rest
restored her strength somewhat.

To the great joy of the whole caravan and Nell, “ Bwana
kubwa” decided to stop two days near this water. At
this news the men fell into excellent humor and at once
forgot the toils they had endured. After taking a nap
and refreshments the negroes began to wander among
the trees above the river, looking for palms bearing wild
dates and so-called “Job’s tears,” from which necklaces
are made. A few of them returned to the camp before
sunset, carrying some square objects which Stas recog-
nized as his own kites.

One of these kites bore the number 7, which was evi-
dence that it was sent out from Mount Linde, as the

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 415

children flew from that place a few score. Stas was
hugely overjoyed at this sight and it gave him renewed
courage.

“T did not expect,” he said to Nell, “that kites could
fly such a distance. I was certain that they would remain
on the summits of Karamojo and I only let them fly pre-
pared for any accident. But now I see that the wind
can carry them where it wants to and I have a hope that
those which we sent from the mountains surrounding
Bassa-Narok, and now on the road, will fly as far as the
ocean.”

“They surely will,’’ Nell answered.

“God grant,” the boy acquiesced, thinking of the dan-
gers and hardships of the further journey.

The caravan started from the river on the third day,
taking with them a great supply of water in leather bags.
Before nightfall they again entered upon a region grilled
by the sun, in which not even acacias grew, and the
ground in some places was as bare as a threshing-floor.
Sometimes they met passion-flowers with trunks imbedded
in the ground and resembling monstrous pumpkins two
yards in diameter. In these huge globes there shot out
lianas as thin as string, which, creeping over the ground,
covered immense distances, forming a thicket so im-
penetrable that it would be difficult even for mice to
penetrate it. But notwithstanding the beautiful color
of these plants, resembling the European acanthus, there
were so many thorns in them that neither the King nor
the horses could find any nourishment in them. Only
the donkey nibbled them cautiously.

Sometimes in the course of several English miles they
did not see anything except coarse, short grass and low
plants, like immortelles, which crumbled upon being
touched. After a night’s bivouac, during the whole of

416 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

the following day a living fire descended from heaven.
The air quivered as on the Libyan Desert. In the sky
there was not even a cloudlet. The earth was so flooded
with light that everything appeared white, and not a
sound, not even the buzz of insects, interrupted this
deadly stillness surfeited with an ill-omened luster.

The men were dripping with sweat. At times they
deposited their packs of dried meats and shields in one
pile to find a little shade under them. Stas issued orders
to save the water, but the negroes are like children, who
have no thought of the morrow. Finally it was necessary
to surround with a guard those who carried the supplies of
water and to apportion the water to each one separately.
Kali attended to this very conscientiously, but this con-
sumed a great deal of time and delayed the march, and
therefore the finding of some kind of watering-place.
The Samburus complained in addition that the Wahimas
got more than their share to drink, and the Wahimas that
the Samburus were favored. These latter began to threaten
to return, but Stas declared to them that Faru would
cut off their heads. He himself ordered the men armed
with Remingtons to go on guard and not let any one leave.

The next night was passed upon a level plain. They
did not build a boma, or, as the Suddnese say, a zareba,
for there was nothing to build one with. The duties of
sentinel were performed by the King and Saba. This was
sufficient, but the King, who received only a tenth of the
water he needed, trumpeted for it until sunrise, and Saba,
with hanging tongue, turned his eyes towards Stas and
Nell in mute appeal for even one drop. The little maid
wanted Stas to give him a mouthful from a rubber flask
left by Linde, which Stas carried with a string across his
shoulder, but he was saving this remnant for the little
one in the dark hour; therefore he declined.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 417

On the fourth day towards evening only five bags with
water remained, or not quite half a cupful for each member
of the party. As the nights, however, at any rate were
cooler than the days, and the thirst at such times vexed
them less than under the burning rays of the sun, and as
the people had received in the morning a small quantity
of water, Stas ordered those bags saved for the following
day. The negroes grumbled at this order, but fear of
Stas was still great; so they did not dare to rush at this
last supply, especially as near it stood a guard of two
men armed with Remingtons, the guard being changed
every hour.

The Wahimas and Samburus cheated their thirst by
pulling out blades of poor grass and chewing its roots.
Nevertheless, there was almost no moisture in it, as the
inexorable sun burnt it, even below the earth’s surface.!

Sleep, though it did not quench their thirst, at least
permitted them to forget it; so when night followed, the
men, weary and exhausted with the whole day’s march,
dropped as though lifeless, wherever they stopped, and
fell into deep slumber. Stas also fell asleep, but in his
soul he had too many worries and was disturbed too
much to sleep peacefully and long. After a few hours he
awoke and began to meditate on what was to come, and
where he could secure water for Nell, and for the whole
caravan, together with the people and the animals. His
situation was hard and perhaps horrible, but the resource-
ful boy did not yet yield to despair. He began to recall
all the incidents, from the time of their abduction from
Fayim until that moment: the great journey across the
Sahara, the hurricane in the desert, the attempts to escape,

1 About the waterless plains in this region see the excellent
book, entitled ‘‘Kilima-Njaro,” by the Rev. Mr. Le Roy, at
present Bishop of Gabon.

418 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Khartim, the Mahdi, Fashoda, their liberation from
Gebhr’s hands; afterwards the further journey after Linde’s
death until reaching Lake Bassa-Narok and that place at
which they were passing the night. “So much did we
undergo, so much have we suffered,” he soliloquized,
“so often did it seem that all was lost and that there was
no help; nevertheless, God aided me and I always found
help. Why, it is impossible that, after having passed
over such roads and gone through so many terrible dangers,
we should perish upon this the last journey. Now we
have yet a little water and this region — why, it is not a
Sahara, for if it were the people would know about it.”

But hope was mainly sustained in him by this, that
on the southeast he espied through the field-glass some
kind of misty outlines as though of mountains. Perhaps
they were hundreds of English miles away, perhaps more.
But if they succeeded in reaching them, they would be
saved, as mountains are seldom waterless. How much
time that would consume was something he could not
compute for it all depended upon the height of the moun-
tains. Lofty peaks in such transparent atmosphere as
that of Africa can be seen at an immeasurable distance;
so it was necessary to find water before that time. Other-
wise destruction threatened them.

“Tt is necessary,’ Stas repeated to himself.

The harsh breathing of the elephant, who exhaled
from his lungs as best he could the burning heat, inter-
rupted every little while the boy’s meditations. But after
a certain time it seemed to him that he heard some kind
of sound, resembling groans, coming from the direction
in which the water-bags lay covered in the grass for the
night. As the groans were repeated several times, he
rose to see what was happening and, walking towards the
grass plot a few score paces distant from the tent, he

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 419

perceived two dark bodies lying near each other and two
Remington barrels glistening in the moonlight.

“The negroes are always the same,” he thought; “they
were to watch over the water, more precious now to us
than anything in the world, and both went to sleep as
though in their own huts. Ah! Kali’s bamboo will have
some work to do to-morrow.”

Under this impression he approached and shook the
foot of one of the sentinels, but at once drew back in
horror.

The apparently sleeping negro lay on his back with
a knife sticking in his throat up to the handle and beside
him was the other, likewise cut so terribly that his head
was almost severed from the trunk. )

Two bags with water had disappeared; the other three
lay in the littered grass, slashed and sunken.

Stas felt that his hair stood on end.

XXIV

In response to his shout Kali was the first to come
rushing; after him came the two guardsmen who were
to relieve the previous watch, and a few moments later
all the Wahimas and Samburus assembled at the scene
of the crime, shouting and yelling. A commotion, full
of cries and terror, ensued. The people were concerned
not so much about the slain and the murderers as about
the water which soaked into the parched jungle soil.
Some negroes threw themselves upon the ground and,
clawing out with their fingers lumps of earth, sucked
out the remnants of moisture. Others shouted that evil
spirits had murdered the guards and slashed the bags.
But Stas and Kali knew what it all meant. M’Kunje
and M’Pua were missing from those men howling above
that grass patch. In that which had happened there was
something more than the murder of two guards and the
theft of water. The remaining slashed bags were evi-
dence that it was an act of revenge and at the same time
a sentence of death for the whole caravan. The priests
of the wicked Mzimu revenged themselves upon the good
one. The fetish-men revenged themselves upon the young
king who exposed their frauds and did not permit them
to deceive the ignorant Wahimas. Now the wings of
death stretched over the entire caravan like a hawk over
a flock of doves.

Kali recollected too late that, having his mind troubled
and engrossed with something else, he forgot to have the

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 421

fetish-men bound, as from the time of their flight he had
ordered them to be each evening. It was apparent that
both sentinels, watching the water, through inbred negro
carelessness, lay down and fell asleep. This facilitated
the work of the rogues and permitted them to escape
unpunished.

Before the confusion subsided somewhat and the people
recovered from their consternation, considerable time
elapsed; nevertheless, the assassins could not be far away,
as the ground under the cut bags was moist and the blood
which flowed from both of the slain did not yet coagulate.
Stas issued an order to pursue the runaways not only
for the purpose of punishing them, but also to recover
the last two bags of water. Kali, mounting a horse and
taking with him about thirteen guardsmen, started in
pursuit. Stas at first wanted to take part in it, but it
eccurred to him that he could not leave Nell alone among
the excited and enraged negroes; so he remained. He
only directed Kali to take Saba along with him.

He himself remained, for he feared a downright mutiny,
particularly among the Samburus. But in this he was
mistaken. The negroes as a rule break out easily, and
sometimes for trivial causes, but when crushed by a
great calamity and particularly when the inexorable
hand of death weighs upon them, they submit passively;
not only those whom Islam teaches that a struggle with
destiny is vain, but all others. Then neither terror nor
the moments of torture can arouse them from their tor-
por. It happened thus at this time. The Wahimas,
as well as the Samburus, when the first excitement passed
away and the idea that they must die definitely found
lodgment in their minds, lay down quietly on the ground
waiting for death; in view of which not a mutiny was to
be feared, but rather that on the morrow they would not

422 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

want to rise and start upon their further journey. Stas,
when he observed this, was seized by a great pity for them.

Kali returned before daybreak and at once placed
before Stas two bags torn to pieces, in which there was
not a drop of water.

“Great Master,” he said, “madi apana!”’

Stas rubbed his perspiring forehead with his hand;
after which he said:

“And M’Kunje and M’Pua?”’

“M’Kunje and M’Pua are dead,” Kali replied.

“Did you order them to be killed?”

“A lion or ‘wobo’ killed them.”

And he began to relate what happened. The bodies
of the two murderers were found quite far from the camp
at the place where they met death. Both lay close to
each other, both had skulls crushed from behind, lacerated
shoulders, and gnawed spines. Kali assumed that when
the “wobo”’ or lion appeared before them in the moon-
light they fell on their faces before it and began to entreat
it that it should spare their lives. But the terrible beast
killed both, and afterwards, having appeased its hunger,
scented water and tore the bags to pieces.

“God punished them,” Stas said, “and the Wahimas
should be convinced that the wicked Mzimu is incapable
of rescuing any one.”

And Kali added:

“God punished them, but we have no water.”’

“Far ahead of us in the east I saw mountains. There
must be water there.”’

“Kali sees them also, but it is many, many days to
them.”

A moment of silence followed.

“Master,” spoke out Kali, “let the ‘Good Mzimu’— let
the ‘bibi’ beg the Great Spirit for rain or for a river.”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 423

Stas left him, making no reply. But before the tent he
saw Nell’s little figure; the shouts and yells had awakened
her some time before.

“What has happened, Stas?” she asked, running up
to him.

And he placed his hand on her little head and solemnly
said:

“Nell, pray to God for water; otherwise we all shall
perish.”

So the little maiden upraised her pale little face and,
fastening her eyes on the moon’s silvery shield, began
to implore for succor Him who in heaven causes the stars
to revolve and on earth tempers the wind for the shorn
lamb.

After a sleepless, noisy, and anxious night the sun
rolled upon the horizon suddenly, as it always does under
the equator, and a bright day followed. On the grass
there was not a drop of dew; on the sky not a cloudlet.
Stas ordered the guards to assemble the men and delivered
a short speech to them. He declared to them that it was
impossible to return to the river now, for they of course
well knew that they were separated from it by five days’
and nights’ journey. But on the other hand no one knew
whether there was not water in the opposite direction.
Perhaps even not far away they would find some stream,
some rivulet or slough. Trees, indeed, could not be seen,
but it often happens upon open plains where the strong
gale carries away the seeds, trees do not grow even at the
water-side. Yesterday they saw some big antelopes and
a few ostriches running towards the east, which was a
sign that yonder there must be some watering place, and
in view of this whoever is not a fool and whoever has in
his bosom a heart, not of a hare but of a lion or buffalo,

424 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

will prefer to move forward, though in thirst and pain,
rather than to lie down and wait there for vultures or
hyenas.

And saying this, he pointed with his hand at the vul-
tures, a few of which coursed already in an ill-omened
circle above the caravan. After these words the Wahimas,
whom Stas commanded to rise, stood up almost as one
man, for, accustomed to the dreadful power of kings,
they did not dare to resist. But many of the Samburus,
in view of the fact that their king Faru remained at the
lake, did not want to rise, and these said among them-
selves: “Why should we go to meet death when she
herself will come to us?” In this manner the caravan
proceeded, reduced almost one-half, and it started from
the outset in torture. For twenty-four hours the people
had not had a drop of water or any other fluid in their
mouths. Even in a cooler climate this, at labor, would
have been an unendurable suffering; and how much more
so in this blazing African furnace in which even those
who drink copiously perspire the water so quickly that
almost at the same moment they can wipe it off their
skin with their hands. It was also to be foreseen that
many of the men would drop on the way from exhaustion
and sunstroke. Stas protected Nell as best he could
from the sun and did not permit her to lean for even a
moment out of the palanquin, whose little roof he covered
with a piece of white percale in order to make it double.
With the rest of the water, which he still had in the
rubber bottle, he prepared a strong tea for her and handed
it to her when cooled off, without any sugar, for sweets in-
crease thirst. The little girl urged him with tears to drink
also; so he placed to his lips the bottle in which there
remained scarcely a few thimblefuls of water, and, moving
his throat, pretended that he drank it. At the moment

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 425

when he felt the moisture on his lips it seemed to him that
his breast and stomach were aflame and that if he did
not quench that flame he would drop dead. Before his
eyes red spots began to flit, and in his jaws he felt a ter-
rible pain, as if some one stuck a thousand pins in them.
His hands shook so that he almost spilt these last drops.
Nevertheless, he caught only two or three in his mouth
with his tongue; the rest he saved for Nell.

A day of torture and toil again passed, after which,
fortunately, a cooler night came. But the following
morning the intense heat became terrible. There was
not a breath of air. The sun, like an evil spirit, ravaged
with living flame the parched earth. The borders of the
horizon whitened. As far as the eyes reached not even
euphorbias could be seen. Nothing —only a burnt,
desolate plain, covered with tufts of blackened grass and
heather. From time to time there resounded in the im-
measurable distance light thunder, but this in fair skies
proclaims not storms but a drought.

About noon, when the heat became the greatest, it was
necessary to halt. The caravan broke ranks in gloomy
silence. It appeared that one horse fell and about
thirteen of the guards remained on the road. During the
rest nobody thought of eating. The people had sunken
eyes and cracked lips and on them dried clots of blood.
Nell panted like a bird, so Stas surrendered to her the
rubber bottle, and exclaiming: “I drank! I drank!”
he ran to the other side of the camp, for he feared that
if he remained he would snatch that water from her or
would demand that she should share it with him. This
perhaps was his most heroic act during the course of the
journey. He himself, however, began to suffer horribly.
Before his eyes there flew continually the red patches.
He felt a tightening of his jaws so strongly that he opened

426 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

and closed them with difficulty. His throat was dry,
burning; there was no saliva in his mouth; the tongue
was as though wooden. And of course this was but the
beginning of the torture for him and for the caravan.

The thunder announcing the drought resounded in-
cessantly on the horizon’s border. About three o’clock,
when the sun passed to the western side of the heavens,
Stas ordered the caravan to rise and started at its head
towards the east. But now hardly seventy men followed
him, and every little while some one of them lay down
beside his pack to rise nevermore. The heat decreased
a few degrees but was still terrible. The still air was
permeated as though with the gas of burning charcoal.
The people had nothing to breathe and the animals began
to suffer no less. In an hour after the start again one of
the horses fell. Saba panted and his flanks heaved; from
his blackened tongue not a drop of froth fell. The King,
accustomed to the dry African jungle, apparently suffered
the least, but he began to be vicious. His little eyes glit-
tered with a kind of strange light. To Stas, and particu-
larly to Nell, who from time to time talked to him, he
answered still with a gurgle, but when Kali carelessly
came near him he grunted menacingly and waved his
trunk so that he would have killed the boy if he had not
jumped aside in time.

Kali’s eyes were bloodshot, the veins in his neck were
inflated, and his lips cracked the same as the other negroes.
About five o’clock he approached Stas and, in a hollow
voice which with difficulty issued out of his throat, said:

“Great master, Kali can go no further. Let the night
come here.”

Stas overcame the pain in his jaws and answered with
an effort:

“Very well. We will stop. The night will bring relief.”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 427

“Tt will bring death,” the young negro whispered.

The men threw the loads off their heads, but as the fever
in their thickened blood already reached the highest de-
gree, on this occasion they did not immediately lie
down on the ground. Their hearts and the arteries in
their temples, hands, and limbs pulsated as if in a moment
they would burst. The skin of their bodies, drying up
and shrinking, began to itch; in their bones they were
sensible of an excessive disquiet and in their entrails
and throats a fire. Some walked uneasily among the
packets; others could be seen farther ‘away in ruddy
rays of the setting sun as they strolled one after another
among the dried tufts as though seeking something, and
this continued until their strength was entirely exhausted.
Then they fell in turn on the ground and lay in convul-
sions. Kali sat, squatting near Stas and Nell, catching
the air with open mouth, and began to repeat entreatingly
between one breath and the other:

“Bwana kubwa, water.”

Stas gazed at him with a glassy stare and remained silent.

“Bwana kubwa, water!”

And after a while:

“Kali is dying.”

At this, Mea, who for an unknown reason endured thirst
the easiest and suffered the least of all, approached, sat
close to him, and, embracing his neck with her arms, said
in her quiet, melodious voice.

“Mea wants to die together with Kali.”

A long silence followed.

In the meantime the sun set and night covered the
region. The sky became dark-blue. On its southern
side the Cross glistened. Above the plain a myriad of
stars twinkled. The moon came out from under the

428 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

earth and began to satiate the darkness with light, and
on the west with the waning and pale twilight extended
the zodiacal luminosity. The air was transformed into
a great luminous gulf. The ever-increasing luster sub-
merged the region. The palanquin, which remained for-
gotten on the King’s back, and the tents glistened, just
as whitewashed houses glisten in a bright night. The
world sank into silence and sleep encompassed the
earth.

And in the presence of this stillness and this quiet of
nature the people howled from pain and waited for death.
On the silvery background of the darkness the gigantic
black form of the elephant was strongly outlined. The
moon’s beams illuminated besides the tents, Stas’ and
Nell’s dresses and, amid tufts of heather, the dark, shriveled
bodies of the negroes and, scattered here and there, piles
of packages. Before the children sat, propped on his
fore legs, Saba, and, raising his head towards the moon’s
shield, he howled mournfully.

In Stas’ soul oscillated only the remnants of thought,
changed into a gloomy and despairing feeling that this
time there was no help and that all those prodigious toils
and efforts, those sufferings, those acts of will and cour-
age, which he had performed during the terrible journey
— from Medinet to Khartiim, from Khartim to Fashoda,
and from Fashoda to the unknown lake — would avail
naught, and that an inexorable end of the struggle and
of life was approaching. And this appeared to him all
the more horrible because this end came during the time
of the final journey, at the termination of which lay the
ocean. Ah! He would not now conduct little Nell to
the coast; he would not convey her by a steamer to Port
Said, would not surrender her to Mr. Rawlinson; he
himself would not fall into his father’s arms and would

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 429

not hear from his lips that he had acted like a brave boy
and like a true Pole! The end, the end! In a few days
the sun would shine only upon the lifeless bodies and
afterwards would dry them up into a semblance of those
mummies which slumber in an eternal sleep in the museums
in Egypt.

From torture and fever his mind began to get confused.
Ante-mortem visions and delusions of hearing crowded
upon him. He heard distinctly the voices of the Sudanese
and Bedouins yelling “Yalla! Yalla!” at the speeding
camels. He saw Idris and Gebhr. The Mahdi smiled at
him with his thick lips, asking: “Do you want to drink
at the spring of truth?”’ — Afterwards the lion gazed at
him from the rock; later Linde gave him a gallipot of
quinine and said: “Hurry, hurry, for the little one will
die.”’ And in the end he beheld only the pale, very dear
little face and two little hands stretched out towards
him.

Suddenly he trembled and consciousness returned to
him for a moment, for hard by murmured the quiet
whisper of Nell, resembling a moan:

“Stas — water!”

And she, like Kali previously, looked to him only for help.

But as twelve hours before he had given her the last
drop, he now started up suddenly, and exclaimed in a
voice in which vibrated an outburst of pain, despair, and
affliction:

“Oh, Nell, I only pretended that I was drinking! For
three days I have had nothing in my mouth!”

And clasping his head with both hands he ran away in
order not to look at her sufferings. He rushed blindly
among tufts of grass and heather until he fell upon one
of the tufts. He was unarmed. A leopard, lion, or even
a big hyena would find in him an easy prey. But only

430 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Saba came running to him. Having smelt at him on all
sides, he again began to howl, as if summoning aid
for him.

Nobody, however, hurried with aid. Only from above,
the moon, quiet and indifferent, looked on him. Fora long
time the boy lay like dead. He was revived only by
a cooler breath of wind, which unexpectedly blew from
the east. Stas sat up and after a while attempted to
rise to return to Nell.

The cooler wind blew a second time. Saba ceased
howling and, turning towards the east, began to dilate his
nostrils. Suddenly he barked once or twice a short,
broken bass and dashed ahead. For some time he could
not be heard, but soon his barking again resounded. Stas
rose and, staggering on his numb legs, began to look after
him. Long journeys, long stays in the jungle, the necessity
of holding all his senses in continual restraint, and continual
dangers had taught the boy to pay careful heed to every-
thing which was taking place about him. So, notwith-
standing the tortures he felt at that moment, notwith-
standing his half-conscious mind, through instinct and
habit he watched the behavior of the dog. And Saba,
after the lapse of a certain time, again appeared near him,
but was somewhat strangely agitated and uneasy. A few
times he raised his eyes at Stas, ran around, again rushed
ahead, scenting and barking in the heather; again he
came back and finally, seizing the boy’s clothes, began to
pull him in a direction opposite to the camp.

Stas completely recovered his senses.

“What is this?’’ he thought. “Either the dog’s mind,
from thirst, is disordered or he has scented water. But
no! If water was near he would have run to it to drink
and would have wet jaws. If it was far away, he would
not have scented it— water has no smell. He is not

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 431

pulling me to antelopes, for he did not want to eat
during the evening. Nor to beasts of prey. Well, what
sit)

And suddenly his heart began to beat in his bosom yet
more strongly.

“Perhaps the wind brought him the odor of men? —
Perhaps — in the distance there is some negro village? —
Perhaps one of the kites has flown as far — Oh, merciful
Christ! Oh, Christ! — ”

And under the influence of a gleam of hope he regained
his strength and began to run towards the camp, not-
withstanding the obstinacy of the dog, who incessantly
barred his way. In the camp Nell’s form loomed white
before him and her weak voice reached him: after a while
he stumbled over Kali lying on the ground, but he paid
no heed to anything. Reaching the pack in which the sky-
rockets were, he tore it open and drew out one of them.
With trembling hands he tied it to a bamboo stick, planted
it in a crack in the ground, struck a match and lit the
string of the tube hanging at the bottom.

After a while a red snake flew upwards with a sputter
and a sizzle. Stas seized a bamboo pole with both hands
in order not to fall and fixed his eyes on the distance. His
pulse and his temples beat like sledge hammers; his lips
moved in fervent prayer. His last breath, and in it his
whole soul, he sent to God.

One minute passed, another, a third, and a fourth.
Nothing! Nothing! The boy’s hand dropped, his head
bowed to the ground, and immense grief flooded his tor-
tured breast.

“Tn vain! In vain!” he whispered. “I will go and sit
beside Nell and we will die together.”

At this moment far, far away on the silvery background
of the moonlit night, a fiery ribbon suddenly soared up-

432 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

ward and scattered into golden stars, which fell slowly,
like great tears, upon the earth.

“Succor!’’ Stas shouted.

And immediately these people, who were half-dead
a short time before, dashed pell-mell in a race across
tufts of shrubs and grass. After the first sky-rocket, a
second and third appeared. After that the breeze brought
a report as though of tapping, in which it was easy to
divine distant shots. Stas ordered all the Remingtons
to be fired, and from that time the colloquy of rifles was
not interrupted at all and became more and more distinct.
The boy, sitting on a horse, which also as though by a
miracle recovered its strength, and keeping Nell before
him, dashed across the plain towards the saving sounds.
Beside him rushed Saba and after him trumpeted the
gigantic King. The two camps were separated by a space
of a few miles, but as from both sides they drew to each
other simultaneously, the whole trip did not last long.
Soon the rifle shots could not only be heard but seen.
Yet one last sky-rocket flew out in the air not farther
than a few hundred paces. After that numerous lights
glistened. The slight elevation of the ground hid them
for a while, but when Stas passed it he found himself
almost in front of a row of negroes holding in their hands
burning torches.

At the head of the row were two Europeans, in English
helmets and with rifles in their hands.

With one glance of the eye Stas recognized them as
being Captain Glenn and Doctor Clary.

XXV

THE object of the Captain Glenn and Doctor Clary ex-
pedition was not at all to find Stas and Nell. It was a
large and abundantly equipped government expedi-
tion despatched to explore the eastern and northern
slopes of the gigantic mountain Kilima-Njaro, as well
as the little-known vast regions lying north of that moun-
tain. The captain as well as the doctor knew indeed
about the abduction of the children from Medinet el-
Faytim, as intelligence of it was published in the English
and Arabian papers, but they thought that both were
dead or were groaning in slavery under the Mahdi, from
whom thus far not a European had been rescued. Clary,
whose sister married Rawlinson in Bombay and who was
very much charmed by little Nell during the trip to Cairo,
felt keenly her loss. But with Glenn, he mourned also
for the brave boy. Several times they sent despatches
from Mombasa to Mr. Rawlinson asking whether the
children were found, and not until the last unfavorable
reply, which came a considerable time before the starting
of the caravan, did they finally lose all hope.

And it never even occurred to them that the children im-
prisoned in distant Khartfim could appear in that locality.
Often, however, they conversed about them in the even-
ing after finishing their daily labors, for the doctor could
by no means forget the beautiful little girl.

In the meantime the expedition advanced farther and
farther. After a long stay on the eastern slope of Kilima-

434 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

Njaro, after exploring the upper courses of the Sabak
and Tany rivers, as well as Kenia Mountain, the captain
and doctor turned in a northerly direction, and after cross-
ing the marshy Guasso-Nijiro they entered upon a vast
plain, uninhabited and frequented by countless herds of
antelopes. After three months of travel the men were
entitled to a long rest, so Captain Glenn, discovering a
small lake of wholesome brown water, ordered tents to be
pitched near it and announced a ten days’ stop.

During the stop the white men were occupied with
hunting and arranging their geographical and scientific
notes, and the negroes devoted themselves toidleness, which
is always so sweet to them. Now it happened one day
that Doctor Clary, shortly after he arose, when approach-
ing the shore, observed between ten and twenty natives of
Zanzibar, belonging to the caravan, gazing with upturned
faces at the top of a high tree and repeating in a circle:

“Ndege? Akuna ndege? Ndege?” (A bird? Not a
bird? A bird?)

The doctor was short-sighted, so he sent to his tent
for a field-glass; afterwards he looked through it at the
object pointed out by the negroes and great astonishment
was reflected upon his countenance.

“ Ask the captain to come here,” he said.

Before the negroes reached him the captain appeared in
front of the tent, for he was starting on an antelope-hunt.

“Look, Glenn,” the doctor said, pointing with his hand
upwards.

The captain, in turn, turned his face upwards, shaded
his eyes with his hand, and was astonished no less than
the doctor.

“A kite,” he exclaimed.

“Yes, but the negroes do not fly kites. So where did
it come from?”

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 435

“Perhaps some kind of white settlement is located in
the vicinity or some kind of mission.”

“For three days the wind has blown from the west,
or from a region unknown and in all probability as un-
inhabited as this jungle. You know that here there are
no settlements or missions.”

“This is really curious.”

“We had better get that kite.”

“Tt is necessary. Perhaps we may ascertain where it
came from.”

The captain gave the order. The tree was a few tens
of yards high, but the negroes climbed at once to the top,
removed carefully the imprisoned kite, and handed it to
the doctor who, glancing at it, said:

“There is some kind of inscription on it. We ’Il see.”
And blinking with his eyes he began to read.

Suddenly his face changed, his hands trembled.

“Glenn,” he said, “take this, read it, and assure me
that I did not get a sunstroke and that I am in my sound
mind.”

The captain took the bamboo frame to which a sheet
was fastened and read as follows:

“Nelly Rawlinson and Stanislas Tarkowski, sent from Khar-
tim to Fashoda and conducted from Fashoda east from the
Nile, escaped from the dervishes. After long months’ travel
they arrived at a lake lying south of Abyssinia. They are going
to the ocean. They beg for speedy help.”

At the side of the sheet they found the following
addition written in smaller letters:

“This kite, the 54th in order, was flown from the mountains
surrounding a lake unknown to geography. "Whoever finds it
should notify the Directory of the Canal at Port Said or Captain
Glenn in Mombasa.

Stanislas Tarkowski.”

436 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

When the captain’s voice died away, the two friends
gazed at each other in silence.

“What is this?”’ Doctor Clary finally asked.

“T do not believe my own eyes!”’ the captain answered.

“This, of course, is no illusion.”

(ft No:

“Tt is plainly written, ‘Nelly Rawlinson and Stanislas
Tarkowski.’”

“Most plainly.”

“And they may be somewhere in this region.”

“God rescued them, so it is probable.”

“Thank Him for that,” exclaimed the doctor fervently.
“But where shall we seek them?”

“Ts there no more on the kite?”’

“There are a few other words but in the place torn by
the bough. It is hard to read them.”

Both leaned their heads over the sheet and only after
a long time were they able to decipher:

‘The rainy season passed long ago.”’

“What does that mean?”

“That the boy lost the computation of time.”

“And in this manner he endeavored to indicate the
date, therefore this kite may have been sent up not
very long ago.”

“Tf that is so, they may not be very far from here.”

The feverish, broken conversation lasted for a while,
after which both began to scrutinize the document and
discuss every word inscribed upon it. The thing ap-
peared, however, so improbable that if it were not for
the fact that this occurred in a region in which there were
no Europeans at all — about three hundred and seventy-
five miles from the nearest coast — the doctor and the cap-
tain would have assumed that it was an ill-timed joke,

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 437

which had been perpetrated by some European children
who had read the newspapers describing the abduction, or
by wards of missions. But it was difficult not to believe
their eyes; they had the kite in hand and the little rubbed
inscriptions were plainly in black before them.

Nevertheless, there were many things which they could
not comprehend. Where did the children get the paper
for the kite? If it had been furnished to them by a car-
avan, then they would have joined it and would not
have appealed for help. For what reason did the boy
not attempt to fly with his little companion to Abyssinia?
Why did the dervishes send them east of the Nile into
an unknown region? In what manner did they succeed
in escaping from the hands of the guards? Where did
they hide? By what miracle through long months of
journey did they not die from starvation, or become
the prey of wild animals? Why were they not killed
by savages? To all these questions there was no reply.

“T do not understand it, I do not understand it,” re-
peated Doctor Clary; “this is perhaps a miracle of God.”

“Undoubtedly,” the captain answered.

After which he added:

“But that boy! For that, of course, was his work.”’

“And he did not abandon the little one. May the
blessings of God flow upon his head!”

“Stanley —even Stanley would not have survived
three days under these circumstances.”’

“And nevertheless they live.”

“But appeal for help. The stop is ended. We start
at once.”

And so it happened. On the road both friends scrutin-
ized the document continually in the conviction that
they might obtain from it an inkling of the direction in
which it was necessary for them to go with help. But

438 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

directions were lacking. The captain led the caravan in
a zigzag way, hoping that he might chance upon some
trace, some extinct fire, or a tree with a sign carved
on the bark. In this manner they advanced for a few
days. Unfortunately they entered afterwards upon a
plain, entirely treeless, covered with high heather and
tufts of dried grass. Uneasiness began to possess both
friends. How easy it was to miss each other in that im-
measurable expanse, even with a whole caravan; and
how much more so two children, who, as they imagined,
crept like two little worms somewhere amid heather
higher than themselves! Another day passed. Neither
fires at night nor tin boxes, with notes in them, fastened
on the tufts helped them any. The captain and the
doctor at times began to lose hope of ever succeeding
in finding the children and, particularly, of finding them
alive.

They sought for them zealously, however, during the
following days. The patrols, which Glenn sent right
and left, finally reported to him that farther on began a
desert entirely waterless; so when they accidentally
discovered cool water in a cleft it was necessary to halt
in order to replenish their supplies for the further journey.

The cleft was rather a fissure, a score of yards deep
and comparatively narrow. At its bottom flowed a
warm spring, seething like boiling water, for it was satu-
rated with carbonic acid. Nevertheless, it appeared that
the water, after cooling, was good and wholesome. The
spring was so abundant that the three hundred men of
the caravan could not exhaust it. On the contrary the
more water they drew from it the more it flowed, and
filled the fissure higher.

“Perhaps sometime,” Doctor Clary said, “this place
will be a resort for the health-seeker, but at present this

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 439

water is inaccessible for animals because the walls of the
fissure are too steep.”

“Could the children chance upon a similar spring? ”

“T do not know. It may be that more of them can
be found in this locality. But if not, then without water
they must perish.”

Night fell. Fires were lit. Nevertheless, a boma was
not erected, for there was nothing to build one with. After
the evening refreshments, the doctor and the captain sat
upon folding chairs, and lighting their pipes, began to
converse of that which lay most upon their hearts.

“Not a trace,” declared Clary.

“Tt had occurred to me,” Glenn replied, “to send ten
of our men to the ocean coast with a despatch that there
is news of the children. But I am glad that I did not do
that, as the men would perish on the way, and, even if they
reached the coast, why should we awaken vain hopes?”

“« And revive the pain —”’

The doctor removed the white helmet from his head
and wiped his perspiring forehead.

“Listen,” he said; “if we should return to that lake
and order the men to hew down trees and at night light a
gigantic bonfire, perhaps the children might descry it.”

“Tf they were near we would find them anyway, and
if they are far off the rolling ground would hide the fire.
Here the plain is seemingly level, but in reality is in
knobs, wavy as the ocean. Besides, by retreating we
would definitely lose the possibility of finding even traces
of them.”

“Speak candidly. You have no hope?” .

“My dear sir, we are grown-up, strong, and resourceful
men, and think of what would become of us if we two
were here alone, even with weapons — but without sup-
plies and men —”

440 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

“Yes! alas — yes! I picture to myself the two children
going in such a night across the desert.”

“Hunger, thirst, and wild animals.”

“And nevertheless the boy writes that under such con-
ditions they proceeded for long months.”

“There is also something in that which passes my
comprehension.”

For a long time could be heard amid the stillness only
the sizzling of the tobacco in the pipes. The doctor gazed
into the depth of the night, after which he said in a sub-
dued voice:

“Tt is already late, but sleep has deserted me. And to
think that they, if alive, are straying somewhere in
the moonlight amid these dry heathers — alone — such
children! Do you remember, Glenn, the little one’s
angelic countenance?”

“T remember it, and cannot forget.”

“Ah, I would allow my hand to be cut off, if —”

And he did not finish, for Glenn started up suddenly
as if scalded.

“A sky-rocket in the distance!” he shouted.

“A sky-rocket!’’ repeated the doctor.

“Some kind of caravan is ahead of us.”

“Which might have found the children.”

“Perhaps. Let us hurry to them.”

“Forward!”

The captain’s orders resounded in one moment through-
out the camp. The Zanzibarians sprang up suddenly on
their feet. Soon torches were lit. Glenn in reply to the
distant signal directed that a few rockets, one after the
other, be sent up; and afterwards that the salvo of rifle
shots be continued. Before a quarter of an hour elapsed
the whole camp was on the way.

From the distance shots replied. There was no doubt

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 441

that this was some kind of European caravan, appealing,
from unknown reasons, for help.

The captain and the doctor raced forward, swept alter-
nately by fear and hope. Would they find the children
or would they not? The doctor said in his soul that, if
not, they in the further journey could seek only for their
remains amid those terrible heather-bushes.

After a half-hour one of those knobs, of which they had
spoken before, obstructed the further view of the friends.
But they were already so near that they heard distinctly
the clatter of a horse’s hoofs. In a few minutes, and
on the top of the elevation, appeared a rider, holding
before him a white object.

“Torches up,” commanded Glenn.

In the same moment the rider brought his horse into
the circle of light.

“Water! Water!”

“The children!” Doctor Clary cried.

“Water!” Stas repeated.

And he almost hurled Nell into the captain’s arms and
leaped out of the saddle. é

But immediately he staggered, and fell like a corpse
upon the ground.

CONCLUSION

Joy in the camp of Captain Glenn and Doctor Clary was
boundless, but the curiosity of both Englishmen was sub-
jected to a severe test. For if previously they could not
comprehend how the children by themselves could cross
those vast wilds and deserts separating that region from
the Nile and Fashoda, then at present they could not at
all understand in what manner “the little Pole,” as they
called Stas, not only accomplished that but appeared
before them as the leader of a caravan, armed with Euro-
pean weapons — with an elephant bearing a palanquin,
with horses, tents, and a considerable supply of provisions.
At the sight of this, the captain spread out his arms and
said every little while: “Clary, I have seen a great deal
but I have not seen such a boy,’ —and the honest
doctor repeated with no less astonishment: “And he
rescued the little one from slavery and saved her!” After
which he hastened to the tents to see how the children
were and whether they slept well.

And the children, having appeased their thirst and
hunger and changed their clothes, slept as though slain,
during the whole of the following day; the people in their
caravan did the same. Captain Glenn tried to question
Kali about Stas’ deeds and adventures during the journey,
but the young negro, opening one eye, only answered:
“The great master can do everything,” — and again fell
asleep. It positively became necessary to postpone ques-
tions and explanations for a few days.

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 443

In the meantime the two friends conferred over the
return journey to Mombasa. They had, as it was, pene-
trated farther and explored more territory than they were
commissioned to; they decided, therefore, to return with-
out delay. The captain indeed was lured very much by
that lake unknown to geography, but a regard for the
health of the children and a desire to return them as
quickly as possible to their afflicted fathers prevailed.
The doctor insisted, however, that it would be necessary
to rest on the cool heights of Kenia Mountain or Mount
Kilima-Njaro. From there they also decided to send news
to the parents and summon them to come to Mombasa.

The return journey began, after due rest and baths in
the warm springs, on the third day. It was at the same
time a day of parting from Kali. Stas persuaded the
little one that to take him farther with them — to the
ocean or to Egypt — would be selfishness on their part.
He said to her that in Egypt, and even in England, Kali
would be nothing more than a servant, while when he
assumed the government of his nation, he, as king, could
spread and establish Christianity, soften the savage
customs of the Wahimas, and make of them not only a
civilized but a good people. The same thing he repeated
in substance to Kali.

At the leave-taking, however, a multitude of tears
were shed of which even Stas was not ashamed, for he
and Nell had passed with Kali through many evil and
good moments and not only had learned to appreciate
his honest heart, but had conceived a sincere affection
for him. The young negro lay long at the feet of his
“Bwana kubwa” and the ‘Good Mzimu.” Twice he re-
turned to look at them for a while, but finally the moment
of separation came and the two caravans started in oppo-
site directions.

444 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

It was only during the journey that the narrative of the
adventures of the two little travelers began. Stas, at
one time prone to be a trifle boastful, now did not brag
at all. He simply had performed too many great deeds,
he had undergone too much, and was too developed not
to understand that words should not be greater than
acts. There was, after all, enough of deeds, though
related in the most modest manner. Each day during
the scorching “white hours” and at evening during the
stops there glided before the eyes of Captain Glenn and
Doctor Clary pictures, as it were, of those occurrences
and incidents through which the children had passed.
So they saw the kidnapping from Medinet-el-Fayfim and
the awful journey on camel-back across the desert — and
Khartim and Omdurmén, resembling hell on earth, and
the ill-boding Mahdi. When Stas related his reply to
the Mahdi, when the latter tried to induce him to change
his faith, both friends rose and each of them warmly shook
Stas’ right hand, after which the captain said:

“The Mahdi is not living!”

“The Mahdi is not living?” Stas repeated with as-
tonishment.

“Yes,” spoke out the doctor. “He choked himself with
his own fat, or, in other words, he died of heart trouble,
and the succession of his government has been assumed by
Abdullahi.”

A long silence ensued.

“Ha!” said Stas. “He did not expect when he de-
spatched us for our destruction to Fashoda that death
would first overtake him.”

And later he added:

“But Abdullahi is still more cruel than the Mahdi.”

“For that reason mutinies and massacres have already
begun,” the captain replied, “and the whole edifice

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 445

which the Mahdi reared will sooner or later tumble
down.”

“And after that who will succeed?”

“England,” the captain answered.!

In the further course of the journey, Stas told about
his journey to Fashoda, about the death of old Dinah,
of their start from Fashoda to uninhabited regions, and
their search for Smain in them. When he reached that
part where he killed the lion and afterwards Gebhr, »
Chamis, and the two Bedouins, the captain interrupted
him with only two words: “All right!” after which he
again squeezed his right hand, and with Clary listened
with increasing interest about the taming of the King,
about settling in Cracow, about Nell’s fever, of finding
Linde, and the kites which the children sent up from
Karamojo Mountains. The doctor who, with each day,
became more and more deeply attached to little Nell, was
impressed so much by everything which threatened her
most, that from time to time he had to strengthen
himself with a few swallows of brandy, and when Stas
began to narrate how she almost became the prey of the
dreadful “wobo” or “abasanto,” he caught the little
maid in his arms as if in fear that some new beast of prey
was threatening her life.

And what he and the captain thought of Stas was best
evidenced by two despatches, which within two weeks
after their arrival at the foot-hills of Kilima-Njaro they
expressly sent to the captain’s deputy in Mombasa with
instructions that the latter should transmit them to the
fathers. The first one, edited carefully, for fear that it

1 The reign of Abdullahi continued for ten years. Thede-
cisive blow to the dervish power was delivered by Lord Kitch-
ener, who almost totally annihilated them in a great bloody
battle and afterwards ordered the Mahdi’s tomb to be razed.

446 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

should create too astounding a sensation, and forwarded
to Port Said, contained the following words:

“Thanks to boy, favorable news about children. Come
to Mombasa.” |

The second, more explicit, addressed to Aden, was of
this purport:

“Children are with us. Well. Boy a hero.”

On the cool heights at the foot of Kilima-Njaro they
stopped fifteen days, as Doctor Clary insisted that this
was imperative for Nell’s health, and even for Stas’.
The children with their whole souls admired this heaven-
kissing mountain, which possesses all the climates of the
world. Its two peaks, Kibo and Kima-Wenze, during
daytime were most frequently hidden in thick fogs. But
when in fair nights the fogs suddenly dispersed and from
the twilight the eternal snows on Kima-Wenze blushed
with a rosy luster at a time when the whole world was
plunged in darkness, the mountain appeared like a bright
altar of God, and the hands of both children at this sight
involuntarily were folded in prayer.

For Stas the days of worry, uneasiness and exertion had
passed. They had yet before them a month of travel to
Mombasa and the road led through the charming but
unhealthy forest of Taveta; but how much easier it
was to travel now, with a numerous caravan well pro-
vided with everything and over familiar trails, than
formerly to stray in the wilderness with only Kali and
Mea. Besides, Captain Glenn was now responsible for
the journey. Stas rested and hunted. Aside from this,
having found among the implements of the caravan a
chisel and hammers, he was in the cooler hours engaged
in chiseling upon a great gneiss rock the inscription

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 447

“Jeszeze Polska nie zginela,”’! for he wished to leave
some trace of their sojourn in that region.

The Englishmen, to whom he translated the inscrip-
tion, were astonished that it never occurred to the boy
to perpetuate his own name on that rock. But he pre-
ferred to carve the words he had chosen.

He did not cease, however, to take care of Nell and awoke
in her such unbounded confidence that when Clary asked
her whether she did not fear the storms on the Red Sea,
the little maid raised her beautiful, calm eyes and only
answered, “Stas will know what to do.” Captain Glenn
claimed that truer evidence of what Stas was to the little
one and greater praise for the boy no one would be able
to pronounce.

Though the first despatch to Pan Tarkowski at Port
Said had been worded with much care, it nevertheless
created such a powerful sensation that joy almost killed
Nell’s father. But Pan Tarkowski, though he was an
exceptionally self-controlled person, in the first moments
after the receipt of the despatch, knelt in prayer and
began to beseech God that the intelligence should not
prove to be a delusion, a morbid chimera, bred from sorrow,
longing, and pain. Why, they had both toiled so hard to
learn that the children were even alive! Mr. Rawlinson
had despatched to the Sudan whole caravans, while Pan
Tarkowski, disguised as an Arab, had penetrated with
the greatest danger to his life as far as Khartiim, but
all was futile. The men who could have given any news
died of smallpox, of starvation, or perished during the
continual massacres, and of the children there was not
the slightest clue. In the end both fathers lost all hope
and lived only on recollections, in the deep conviction that

1 “Poland is not yet lost.” The title of the most popular
Polish national march. — Translator’s note.

448 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

here in life now nothing awaited them and that only
death would unite them with those dearest beings who were
everything for them in the world.

In the meantime unexpected joy, almost beyond their
strength, fell upon them. But it was linked with un-
certainty and amazement. Neither could by any means
comprehend in what manner news of the children came
from that part of Africa, that is, Mombasa. Pan Tar-
kowski supposed that they might have been ransomed
or stolen by some Arabian caravan which from the eastern
coast ventured into the interior for ivory and penetrated
as far as the Nile. The words of the despatch, “Thanks
to boy,” he explained in this manner: that Stas had noti-
fied the captain and the doctor by letter where he with
Nell could be found. Nevertheless, many things it was
impossible to unravel. On the other hand, Pan Tarkow-
ski understood quite clearly that the information not
only was favorable, but very favorable, as otherwise the
captain and the doctor would not have dared to awaken
hopes in them, and above all would not have summoned
them to Mombasa.

The preparations for the journey were brief, and the
second day after the receipt of the despatches both engin-
eers, with Nell’s teacher, were on the deck of a great
steamer of the “Peninsular and Oriental Company,”
which was en route for India and on the way stopped at
Aden, Mombasa, and Zanzibar. At Aden awaited them
the second despatch: “Children are with us. Well.
Boy a hero.” After reading it Mr. Rawlinson walked
about almost out of his senses from joy, and, squeezing
Pan Tarkowski’s palm, he repeated: “You see, it was
he who saved her. To him I owe her life.” Pan Tar-
kowski, not desiring to display too much weakness, an-
swered only, setting his teeth, “Yes! The boy acquitted

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 449

himself bravely,’’ but when he retired to the privacy of
his cabin he wept from happiness. At last the hour arrived
when the children fell into the embraces of their fathers.
Mr. Rawlinson seized his recovered little treasure in his
arms and Pan Tarkowski long clasped his heroic boy to
his bosom. Their misfortune disappeared as pass away
whirlwinds and storms of the desert. Their lives were filled
anew with serenity and happiness; longing and separation
had augmented their joy. But the children were sur-
prised that the hair of their “papas” had whitened
completely during the separation.

They returned to Suez on a splendid French steamer
belonging to the “Messageries Maritimes Company,”
which was full of travelers from the islands Réunion,
Mauritius, Madagascar, and Zanzibar. When the news
spread that on board were children who had escaped
from dervish slavery Stas became an object of general
curiosity and universal praise. But the happy quartette
preferred to lock themselves in a great cabin which the
captain gave up to them and spend there the cooler hours
in narrations. Nell, too, took part in them, chirping
like a little bird, and at the same time, to the amusement
of ali, beginning each sentence with an “and.” So, sitting
on her father’s knees and raising to him her beautiful
little eyes, she spoke in this manner: “And, papa, they
kidnapped us and conveyed us on camels — and Gebhr
struck me—and Stas defended me—and we came
to Khartiim and there people died of hunger — and Stas
worked to get dates for me — and we were at the Mahdi’s
—and Stas did not want to change his religion — and
the Mahdi sent us to Fashoda—and afterwards Stas
killed a lion and all of them — and we lived in a big tree,
which is called Cracow —and the King was with us

450 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

—and I had a fever — and Stas cured me — and killed
a wobo — and conquered the Samburus — and was always
very kind to me — papa!”

In the same fashion she spoke about Kali, Mea, the
King, Saba, Mount Linde, the kites, and the final journey
until their meeting with the captain’s and doctor’s cara-
van. Mr. Rawlinson, listening to this chirping, checked
his tears with difficulty, while Pan Tarkowski could not
contain himself from pride and happiness, for even from
these childish narratives it appeared that were it not
for the bravery and energy of the boy the little one ran
the risk of perishing, not once but a thousand times,
without help.

Stas gave a more specific and complete account of every-
thing. And it happened that during the narration of
the journey from Fashoda to the waterfall, a great load
fell off his heart, for when he told how he shot Gebhr and
his companions, he hemmed and hawed and began to
look uneasily at his father, while Pan Tarkowski knitted
his brow, pondered a while, and after that gravely said:

“Listen, Stas! It is not allowable for any one to be
lavish with death, but if anybody menaces your father-
land or puts in jeopardy the life of your mother, sister,
or the life.of a woman entrusted to your care, shoot him
in the head and ask no questions. Do not reproach your-
self on that account.”

Mr. Rawlinson immediately after the return to Port
Said took Nell to England, where he settled permanently.
Stas was sent by his father to a school in Alexandria,
where his deeds and adventures were less known. The
children corresponded almost daily, but circumstances
combined to prevent their seeing each other for ten years.
The boy, after finishing school in Egypt, entered the Poly-
technic in Zurich, after which, having secured his diploma,

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS 451

he was engaged in the construction of tunnels in Switzer-
land.

When ten years had passed, Pan Tarkowski retired
from the service of the Canal Company, and he and Stas
visited their friends in England. Mr. Rawlinson invited
them to his home, near Hampton Court, for the whole
summer. Nell had finished her eighteenth year and had
grown into a maiden as charming as a flower, and Stas
became convinced, at the expense of his own peace, that a
man, who had completed twenty-four years, could never-
theless still think of ladies. He even thought of beautiful
and dear Nell so incessantly that finally he decided to
run away to whatever place his eyes would lead him.

But while in that state of mind, Mr. Rawlinson one day
placed both of his palms on Stas’ shoulders and, looking
him straight in the eyes, said with an angelic benignity:

“Tell me, Stas, whether there is a man in the world to
whom I could give my treasure and darling with greater
confidence?”

The young couple married and remained in England
until Mr. Rawlinson’s death and a year later they started
upon a long journey. As they promised to themselves to
visit those localities in which they had spent their earliest
years and afterwards at one time had wandered as chil-
dren, they proceeded first of all to Egypt. The state of
the Mahdi and Abdullahi had already been overthrown,
and after its fall England, as Captain Glenn stated, “suc-
ceeded.” A railroad was built from Cairo to Khartiim.
The “sudds,” or the Nilotic obstructions of growing
water plants, were cleared so that the young couple could
in a comfortable steamer reach not only Fashoda but
the great Lake Victoria Nyanza. From the city of Flor-
ence lying on the shores of that lake they proceeded by a

452 IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

railroad to Mombasa. Captain Glenn and Doctor Clary
had already removed to Natal, but in Mombasa there
lived under the solicitous care of the local English author-
ities the King. The giant at once recognized his former
master and mistress and particularly greeted Nell with
such joyful trumpeting that the mangrove trees in the
neighborhood shook as if they were swept by the wind.
He recognized also old Saba, who outlived almost two-
fold the years usually allotted to a dog and, though a trifle
blind, accompanied Stas and Nell everywhere.

Here also Stas learned that Kali enjoyed good health;
that under the English Protectorate he ruled the entire
region south of Lake Rudolf, and that he had introduced
missionaries who were spreading Christianity among
the local savage tribes.

After this journey the young couple returned to Europe

and, with Stas’ venerable father, settled permanently
in Poland.

THE END

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

BERKELEY

Return to desk from which borrowed.
This book is DUE on the last date stamped below.

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JUN 13 198923.

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JUL 14 1978

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